A Chief's Duty
by beaubaloo
Summary: It's been a year since the fall of the Red Death, and a lot has changed for Hiccup; his relationships, his appearance, his responsibilities, but one of the biggest changes he can't seem to accept is the idea that he has to become chief one day. It only makes it worse that the devil's daughter is visiting for a week, and no one on the island is happy about that.
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N): This is my first fanfic EVER, so please read and give a review if you can. This story has been floating around in my head for weeks, but I just haven't had the energy to put it down. I will try to post regularly, if anyone likes it. Please enjoy!  
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**(Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Dreamworks Dragons characters or anything belonging to how to train your dragon franchise.)**

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**Chapter One**

It was one of those mornings on Berk where no matter how many blankets or furs you wrapped yourself up in, when you woke up, you wouldn't be able to feel you're limbs. Not that if it where warm, Hiccup would be able to feel one of them anyways. He liked to think he was fully adjusted to not having a lower left leg, but him being hiccup, he was never really fully adjusted to anything.

Anyways it was cold, like it usually is on Berk, but this was one of those mornings where during the night, when the sun was down, everything in sight seemed to freeze over. Luckily, now that the Berkians were friendlier with dragons, anyone that had one could snuggle for warmth. Or rather, huddle, for survival purposes of course.

Evidently, Dragons were a Blessing in disguise, of course some people weren't too happy with the changes, namely Mildew, but most other Berkians couldn't even remember how they survived without the dragons before. Even Stoick was jumping onto the bandwagon, despite his conservative ways. He did believe in tradition, but he also knew that sometimes tradition could be wrong, Hiccup had taught him that.

The young Viking boy, sat up in bed, waiting for the feeling to return to his fingers and toes. He glanced to the side of right, where Toothless laid on a stone platform across the room, snoozing lightly in front the fireplace. He was lucky, Hiccup thought as he lazily crawled out of bed towards the sleeping dragon, everyone knew that dragons were naturally warm, and cold weather only made the huge reptiles sluggish and sleepy. Not that toothless didn't mind the cold weather, he didn't like it just as much as anyone else, but the difference was that he could actually tolerate it.

"Open up," Hiccup half mumbled, his arms holding together a fur blanket draped over his shoulders. The wooden floor was cold and stung at his right foot like icy needles. His left foot though, was still detached resting against the bedpost, where he had placed it the previous night.

The dragon opened one eye lazily to see the boy inching towards him as fast as his numb body could move, which was quite frankly, not very fast. He lifted one wing, as he had been lying on his side, and allowed Hiccup to nestle himself into toothless body. Despite Hiccup being half-asleep, he still possessed some reason, and knew that if he put himself in between toothless' wings, he wouldn't be getting out until toothless said so. But as soon as he was wrapped up and surrounded by the dragons natural furnace, being held prisoner there was much more preferable than being in his ice-block of a bed. He settled for the warm-dragon-choice and within minutes the two of them returned to their slumber.

Hiccup smiled faintly as a dream began to play out in his mind. He was in a field, it was warm and cozy, and the sunset in the horizon casted a magnificent mix of orange and pink hues into the sky. He heard a familiar sound of laughter behind him, and as he turned he saw Astrid. Her hair was billowing in the breeze, as she had seemed to unravel her braid, and she was wearing a sky blue dress that danced around her with the wind, instead of covered in spikes. Her smile was inviting, and he approached cautiously, worried she might surprise attack him, as she usually did. There seemed to be a warm glow emitting from her as she smiled and held out her arms to him, which he contemplated on taking. This was quite the unusual sight. Astrid? Inviting? Soft? He knew it was too good to be true, so he proceeded looked at her skeptically.

Her lips parted slowly as she approached him, arms still outstretched.

"Astrid?" Hiccup asked dumbly.

Her face neared his and her warm hands came to touch his cheek.

"As…as…stri-" She was so close now, and her hands were making him nod off blissfully. He closed his eyes and prepared his lips for what he expected was coming.

Until a loud gruff voice erupted from her mouth and disrupted the pleasant moment, "Hiccup!"

His eyes instantly shot open and he looked around him, to find he was surrounded by darkness.

"Hiccup!" The familiar voice sounded again, "What did I say about mornings?" Just then Hiccup realized it had been his father's voice he had heard in his dream. He pushed open toothless' wings, to which the dragon gave a small noise of protest, but was too tired to put any energy into it.

"Yes…dad?" Hiccup rubbed his eyes with the knuckles of his hands and stretched his arms.

"What were you doing over there son?, " He gestured to the blocky wooden bed across the room, "What about your bed?" Stoick questioned as Hiccup revealed himself, "Haven't I told you not to coddle the thing?"

"I wasn't coddling Toothless… I was… huddling with him, for survival purposes." Hiccup stated with still hooded eyes.

"Never mind that, we haven't got the time. Hurry and get dressed, today's a very important day remember?" Stoick pointed out with a rather excited expression, which he only reserved for special occasions.

Hiccup thought for a moment then asked hopefully, "… Is it Sleep until whenever you want day?"

His father gave him a dry look, "A chief never rests"

Hiccup shared a cynical look with toothless then hoisted himself up onto his right leg. Stoick reached for the prosthetic and handed it to his son, before continuing to ramble on, "I'm sure you remember what today is, I have been reminding you for the past week."

With a sigh, Hiccup attached the prosthetic. He knew what day it was, his father had in fact been reminding him all week, he just wished this day didn't have to come. Today was the day that the chief of the Glunky Gunnsons, and his daughter would be visiting.

Fortunately, No one really heard from them often, since they lived in an island way a ways south from Berk called Gunge Guck, but whenever they did make an appearance, it was something the whole tribe dreaded. They were known all around as being arrogant, trouble making slobs. Last time they visited, when Hiccup was only seven, they were real pests, eating all the food, stealing things giving orders.

What made it worse was that Hiccup had to wait hand and foot on the chief's daughter Heidi, who was the most annoying of them all. She was the apple of her father's eye, and if she so much as frowned, she could very well start a war. She didn't know that back then, because she was six, but Hiccup figured she probably understood how important she was, and wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of it.

"Why did you even invite them dad? Couldn't we renew a treaty with some other tribe?" Hiccup whined.

"It is a chief's duty, and since one day, you will become chief, I want you to see firsthand what a chief has to deal with." Stoick explained, "And besides, I didn't invite him, He heard about our dragons and suggested that we renew the treaty himself."

Hiccup watched his father shuffle through the tiny doorway, as he usually did whenever he needed to go in and out. After he was gone he dropped his head and stared glumly at the floor. Toothless knew how Hiccup got whenever Stoick mentioned him becoming chief. It was an idea Stoick was very proud and excited about, but hiccup feared.

The dragon came over to the boy and nuzzled his shoulder to comfort him. Though it has been a year since the fall of the Red Death, Hiccup still doubted himself. He was praised as a hero, he led the dragon training academy, and now he was most-likely going to be the future chief of Berk, but all these accomplishments did nothing but weigh him down.

"It's okay bud." He rubbed toothless' snout and gave a half-smile, which did nothing to calm the dragon's nerves, "They're only staying a week right? Not anything too bad…" He tried to reassure himself as he stood up to get dressed.

He quickly put on his green tunic, which seemed to be getting a bit tighter; He had grown in the past year, and was in serious need of some new clothes. His prosthetic was new though, the one Gobber had made up for him after the battle just wasn't going to cut it, and at the rate he was growing, it seemed he'd have to draw up another design soon.

"Come on bud" Hiccup called as he left the room, the dragon pushed open the large window they had installed, and jumped out to meet the boy at the front door.

The whole island was busy, aware of what today was, and they were hastily making preparations. "Morning toothless" A familiar voice called from behind, he turned to find Astrid approaching him. She scratched under his neck lightly and smiled, "Where's Hiccup?" The dragon turned towards the door where Hiccup appeared, a discouraged look still plastered over his face.

"Hey Astrid," He met her by Toothless and began absently rubbing his neck.

"Hey…Hiccup? What's wrong?" Astrid noticed his dim mood.

"You haven't heard? The Chief of the Glunky Gunnsons is arriving today…"

"What's so wrong with him? Aren't the Glunky Gunnsons one of the fiercest tribes around? I can't wait to meet him so he can show me some of his techniques!" Astrid got excited at the idea of becoming an even greater warrior.

"I'm sure you'd be the one showing _him_ techniques. Besides, he's here to renew a treaty, chief stuff." Hiccup commented, the Viking girls excitement deflating at his words.

"I still don't understand why you're so upset."

Hiccup let out a sigh, "My dad is probably going to make me wait on his daughter…again"

"Oh…"

"Yeah."

"Well," She stated with an optimistic tone, "You said that the chief is coming to renew a treaty so wouldn't you be with your dad discussing chiefly-stuff? If you're busy with that, he'll probably make Snotlout look after the chief's daughter."

"Yeah…" Hiccup replied drearily, discussing Chiefly-stuff wasn't any better to him. Hiccup having to become chief one day was already looming over his head constantly, so sitting next to his father, learning how to be one made him feel extremely nervous.

Astrid noticed his still-discouraged look and opened her mouth to say something but heavy arms landed on her and Hiccup's shoulders.

"You guys talking about the chief's daughter?" Snotlout loud voice interrupted their discussion. She elbowed him in the side causing him to let go of them to bring his hands to his rib. "Ow!"

"Someone's jealous…"Snotlout created a safe distance from Astrid and stood nearer to Hiccup, "Worried that Heidi will take all of the attention off of you huh?"

Astrid balled up her fist and neared Snotlout in a menacing way, the thought of ever wanting to be like that spoiled priss disgusted her, but Hiccup held out an arm to stop her, "She doesn't have anything to be jealous about Snotlout, Heidi's a brat…"

"Yeah, but she's super-hot! They call her Heidi the Heavenly!"

"I thought it was Heidi the Hellish…?" Astrid corrected him.

"See? She's obviously jealous…" Snotlout commented in a depreciating way as he crossed his arms and shook his head.

Astrid growled and punched him in the stomach, He doubled over in pain as the air was knocked out of him, "And you're obviously stupid!" She bit back.

Hiccup laughed a little, Snotlout did deserve it. "It actually is Heidi the Hellish, but don't say that in front of her father…"

"Whatever" Snotlout wheezed as he tried to stand up straight again, "That doesn't matter, because you're looking at the future chief of the Glunky Gunnsons. You can go ahead and be chief of this dump Hiccup, I'm going for the gold!"

"…." Hiccup and Astrid gave Snotlout an unconvinced look.

"What? You guys don't think I can woo her with my manly Viking charms?" He defended himself.

"No offense Snotlout…but you're probably... not her type." Hiccup commented.

"Yeah, she doesn't go for the sleazy type. And unfortunately for you, she only wants things that she can't have." Astrid added.

"You guys don't know anything about a Jorgenson's charm!" He said to the two before he tromped off.

Hiccup and Astrid laughed and shook their heads. Snotlout really was oblivious, he didn't accept the truth until it hit him in the face, literally.

"Well I'm going to take toothless on a flight… I have a feeling I won't be getting much time with him this week…" Hiccup said as he patted the dragon's neck.

Toothless heard the word flight and jumped around excitedly.

"Yeah, I think you might be right," Astrid smiled then turned to walk off but seemed to remember something, "Oh I almost forgot, you're dad told me to remind you to meet him at the docks before noon."

"Thanks for reminding me, It's only been hanging over my head for the past week." Hiccup said dryly as he climbed up onto toothless.

"It'll be okay Hiccup, come meet me before you head for the docks okay?" she wanted to give him more reassurance, but didn't have the time right now.

"Sure thing," He answered before him and toothless leapt into the air. Toothless' wings hoisted them up and they were soon far up in the sky getting smaller and smaller as they left Berk behind.

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**(A/N): So, I hope you liked it! Like I said this is my first fanfic, so I would appreciate some constructive criticism to help make my future stories or chapters better. **

**And Thanks for reading! I will post next chapter soon, and might come up with a regular posting date if people like it **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Hiccup loved being out in the sky, the chilly breeze, the refreshing air, the feeling of weightlessness, and most importantly, the silence. In the village it was never quiet long enough for him to actually focus or sort things out in his head.

The only time Hiccup could clearly think about something was when he was alone with toothless, because with toothless there weren't any social restraints, any expectations, and any responsibilities weighing him down. With toothless he could just be himself, and that was something he apparently wasn't allowed to do on Berk.

They had been flying for more than an hour now, and Hiccups brain started to feel a bit more relaxed, but the second he forgot about everything else, a moment later it would all come back. Kind of like a shadow, it was out of sight sometimes, but you still knew it was there following your every movement.

"You think we should head back now bud?" Hiccup asked lazily, not really wanting to go back. He knew that this was most likely their last flight for the rest of the week, and he was frustrated that he would have to deprive toothless of the only time they spent together alone all at the cost of that bratty chiefs daughter who he hadn't had even seen in ten years.

His days were busy even when there wasn't a chief visiting, and the hours Hiccup devoted to his dragon were precious. This was something, His father would never understand, and that frustrated him too.

The dragon made a loud whine of disapproval, it seemed like toothless knew this was probably his only flight for the week too.

"Whad'ya say we just never go back huh?" Hiccup joked, and toothless seemed gleeful at the idea. He scratched the scales along Toothless neck and near his ears, "Come on, we don't want dad to lose his head if we show up late." He said as they steered towards Berk.

Toothless grumbled and flew on reluctantly, knowing that if they were late Stoick would give a good talking to Hiccup, and Hiccup was always upset after those.

Before heading to the docks, Hiccup remembered Astrid saying to meet her. She hadn't had mentioned where, so he assumed it was the same place they would always meet if they wanted to be alone. It was a tiny island strewn with rocks and shrubs. Rather close to Berk, but far enough that none of the other riders knew where it was. It was uninhabited, being even smaller than the training arena, and was debatable whether it could even be called an island or just a large rock.

As Hiccup approached the island, he saw Astrid sitting on one of the rocks near Stormfly, sharpening her battle axe with a flat stone. He landed lightly onto the island and hopped off of toothless to meet her.

"About time you showed up," Astrid said playfully as she put down the stone and leaned her axe against the rock, "Now sit down." She patted the space next to her.

He complied and left toothless to mingle with Stormfly as they talked, "So what is it you needed to talk to me about? …Should I be worried" He asked in a playful tone as he dropped himself next to her.

"You're the one who needs to do the talking, tell me what's got you in such a bad mood…"

Hiccup sighed, Astrid sure wasobservant. Though he hadn't really been keeping his unhappiness a secret, Astrid was the only one who actually noticed, or at least did something about it. The people around him couldn't see it, the other teenagers couldn't see it, and most importantly his own father couldn't even see it.

"I'm waiting…" Astrid leaned in closer, her chin rested on her hand, and her elbow rested on her knee.

"It isn't… anything really." Hiccup shrugged with a smile.

"Hiccup…" Astrid complained, seeing easily through his weak façade.

"What? It isn't anything…" He pulled his shoulders up and held his hands out, "What do you want from me?"

"I want you" She put a hand on his knee reassuringly, "To tell me the truth…"

Hiccup put a hand on hers and tried his most convincing voice, "The only thing I'm worried about is Heidi, Okay?"

Astrid let her hand slide off of his knee then looked to the ground, his actions not nearly convincing enough. But she also figured, maybe the reason he wouldn't tell her was because it was something she couldn't fix, or didn't have the answer to. Or maybe it was just because he was embarrassed by it… Either way she needed to know, but he was obviously not willing to telling her anything, so she wouldn't push it.

After a few stretched moments, "Well okay…" She sighed then reached into the small leather pouch hanging on her side, pulling out a black string with a tiny pendant of some sort hanging off of it.

"What's that?" Hiccup asked.

She opened up the string with both her hands and pulled it over his head, letting it fall to his shoulders and neck on its own, "A good luck charm."

Hiccup held the piece hanging in the middle of the necklace and brought it up to his face to see it. It seemed to be some sort of small animal tooth with tiny beads on either side of the string.

"I'm no artist, but it's the best I could do."

"No, no it's beautiful. Thanks." Hiccup let his eyes meet hers as he said this and they both blushed at the deliberate eye contact. For the past year, Astrid had been labeled as "Hiccups Girl" more or less, and the title only kept growing, but the most they had ever exchanged were a few kisses. Hiccup wasn't complaining though, before, he was lucky if he even got a glance from her. So he couldn't help but feel as if their relationship was a makeshift raft floating out in the ocean that eventually would sink. He knew for sure that he liked her. A lot. He just wanted to know why she would like a scrawny, screw up like him.

Although despite all of his mixed feelings, he appreciated her gesture and really hoped that this good luck charm was any good, because he would need all the luck he could get.

"I just don't want you to be so worried all the time… One step at a time okay?" Astrid said with a small smile. She just wished she could see what was going on in that head of his, what has been troubling him all this time.

"I will. Don't worry about me." His mood seemed to be lightening up as he was touched by Astrid's efforts. He didn't want her to worry anymore, considering how concerned she was, and put on a genuine smile.

She smiled back at him and punched him on the arm lightly, "Then stop making me worry about you"

"I'm sorry" He said just above a whisper, their faces still inches apart and their eyes still locked.

"I'll let it slide this time," She said absently as their eyes shut, and they both leaned in slowly for a kiss. But just before their lips could touch Toothless came bounding by chasing after Stormfly.

The two teens were so caught up in the moment that neither of them noticed Toothless' tail headed straight for Hiccups stomach. As the dragon swooshed past the two, his tail whiplashed straight into Hiccups abdomen and knocked him off the rock and onto the dirt ground.

He landed on his back with a loud "Oof" and Toothless proceeded to bound of, oblivious to what he'd just caused.

"Hiccup?" Astrid opened her eyes to find Hiccups legs in the air. She peered over the rock and saw him lying there, partly dazed from the blow.

She laughed and stood to help him up, "Are you okay?" She grabbed hold of his hand and lifted him to his feet, where he regained his balance then looked around angrily searching for Toothless.

He was still chasing Stormfly around, and Hiccup shook his head, "He's really got to watch that tail…" This not being the first time Toothless unknowingly assaulted his rider. Luckily nothing was damaged, except for the moment Astrid and Hiccup had just been sharing.

Astrid laughed at him, while she lightly brushed off his shoulder. Finding the aggravated look on his face adorable "Dragons will be dragons I guess…"

Hiccup's face relaxed, and he smiled, always feeling the slightest bit of delight whenever Astrid laughed.

"Anyways, let's head back now, your Dad's probably already waiting at the docks." She put two fingers in her mouth and blew, whistling loud enough for Stormfly to hear. The dragon stopped bouncing around with Toothless and looked up to see Astrid beckoning her with her hands. The Viking girl met the dragon halfway and leapt onto the saddle, taking off in a quick and efficient way. Toothless and Hiccup quickly followed behind, catching up to Astrid and Stormfly effortlessly.

Like always, Astrid decided to make a competition out of it, and flew Stormfly as fast as she could, apparently asking for a race. Hiccup laughed and tightened his grip on the saddle, granting her wish, he didn't hold back.

They arrived on Berk within minutes, not ending the race until they reached the Docks, which was the undeclared finish line. Vikings, going about their day noticed the two and backed away from the landing area, not wanting to get crushed by the force of their speed.

Toothless landed first, swiftly, and Stormfly a close second after, due to the fact that Astrid knew some shortcuts around the village. And Astrid being the competitive person she was, made it her business to know how to win.

"Ah! So close!" she hollered as she drew back her head in defeat, intentionally making her movements exaggerated.

"Better luck next time Milady" Hiccup laughed and slid off of toothless.

"Hiccup! Where have you been!?" Stoick's distressed voice sounded from behind.

The laughter stopped and Hiccup turned to meet his father's eyes, "Has… The chief arrived already?" He asked in a worried tone.

"The boat is coming in, they are about to dock, and we have to be there when they do." Stoick said as he grabbed Hiccups shoulders and steered him towards the docks.

As Stoick shoved Hiccup along, he turned to give a fleeting glance to Toothless, who had the same uneasy look on his face. Then glanced up to meet Astrid's eyes, which said something along the lines of 'hang in there' before she and Stormfly took off again.

Hiccup sighed as he turned in front of him and slumped his shoulders.

"Stop moping son, a chief puts his own feelings aside for the greater good, remember?" Stoick squeezed Hiccups shoulder lightly.

"Must've forgot…" Hiccup mumbled as he looked to the ground.

"Oh I'm so happy you finally get to see me in action, you know son if you pay attention, you could learn a few things." His father rambled on giddily as he continued to lead them towards the docks.

"Don't I see you 'in action' everyday?" Hiccup looked up at his father, eyebrows knit tightly.

"In _real_ action, with other chiefs. Not the usual sheep-stuck-in-a-well, or listening-to-Mildew-gripe-all-day action." Stoick explained.

Hiccup rolled his eyes as they came to a stop at the edge of the short pier. The boat was docked, and a few men were tying the ropes, and unloading some supplies. Here goes… Hiccup thought as he saw a tall bearish man step onto the ramp. It was Hedvig Horvath of the Glunky Gunnsons himself, stepping onto the wooden docks looking as grumpy as ever.

"Hedvig!" Stoick let go of Hiccup and went over to greet the chief. They grasped the inside of each other's forearms, in a rough aggressive way, which kind of looked like they were competing for something and then patted each other on the back with the kind of force Hiccup could be crushed with.

"Stoick" The other large Viking man gruffly replied. He had the same grumpy look on his face that frightened Hiccup all those years ago. He was a big brute of a man, always getting in fights and never settled for less. And most importantly stubborn, like any Viking chief.

"I'm sure you remember my son?" Stoick gestured towards the thin Viking teen, "…Hiccup?"

He stepped forward timidly and offered his hand nervously, "Ah I remember this little one… hasn't changed a bit!" Hiccup was slightly offended by this, the last time they he had seen him being when he was seven.

"Heh.. heh…" Hiccup laughed nervously, "That's… nice to know…" He scratched the back of his head.

Hedvig took a firm hold of the boy's thin arm, looking like a twig compared to Hedvig's boulder of a hand. He squeezed it, generously sparing none of his strength, and Hiccup nearly fainted at the tightness of his grip. The burly man released his arm after a few moments with a nod and then turned back towards Stoick, leaving Hiccups arm numb and slightly disfigured.

He tried to hide the discomfort in his face to keep his dad from saying "A Chief feels no pain" or something like that.

"Well He's grown quite a bit," Stoick began defending his son, in his own Viking way, "enough to defeat the entire dragon nest in fact…"

"Well... it didn't quite go like that, I actually never-" Hiccup began timidly.

"Can't be true…" Hedvig said in amazement and began smoothing his long braided beard slowly.

"It actually Isn't-" Hiccup stammered, trying to interject.

"No, it's true, he even singlehandedly slayed the huge king dragon who laid deep within the nest. A Sea dragon as enormous as an island!" Stoick boasted in a loud and exaggerated way.

"It wasn't-" Hiccup tried once more.

"That's quite impressive… I'd like to know how that sorted itself out." Hedvig commented as he continued to smooth his grungy beard.

At this point Hiccup knew anything he said would be in vain so he just decided to keep quiet.

"I'll tell you in detail some time…" Stoick said absently, glowing with pride.

"Daddy!" A loud screech came from the boat. It sounded familiar and the ounce of hope that Hiccup had for the little devil not showing up for some odd reason, completely dissipated.

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**(A/N): Thank you for reading, and please don't forget to give me some feedback in a review!**

**If people like this, I will put up a regular posting date :-)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Hiccup and his father cringed at the high sound frequency as the creature called again, "DADDY!"

"That's my angel, Heidi, you remember her right?" Hedvig asked Stoick, a pleased smile plastered across his face.

Stoick nodded slowly, "how… could I forget?"

Said "angel" sauntered her way down the ramp, covered in thick furs and cloth, with two burly men escorting her from behind. She definitely changed since Hiccup had last seen her, blossoming into her supposed title of Heidi the heavenly very nicely. Though that was only by appearance, once she opened her mouth anyone could agree she was undoubtedly Heidi the Hellish. The Horvath's were known to be quite the lookers, and apparently, that made them better than anyone else.

Her nose was held high in the air, and she stepped onto Berk soil with a disgusted expression. "Daddy _why_ is it so cold! You never said it would be _this_ cold!" She screeched, "And Oh!" She held her nose, "What is that horrid stench!"

"I said that it was cold! Now Darling, come meet the Chief of the Hairy Hooligans, and his son Humphrey"

"Hiccup…" Hiccup clarified in an annoyed tone.

Heidi wrapped both her harms around her fathers and looked to the two, not even bothering to give a fake smile.

"You sure have grown Heidi… I remember when you were just a wee lass, now look at you. A fine Viking lady indeed!" Stoick complimented her as whole heartedly as he could. But he couldn't deny she was already beginning to be a pain, and Hedvig beamed with pride.

"Viking _princess_" She made a point to ensure that people address her as a princess, for whatever reason, then turned to the already nervous boy flipping her large strawberry blonde braids over her shoulder. "And Hiccup, you haven't changed a bit have you?" Heidi said looking up at him, but also looking down at him at the same time. She remembered virtually nothing during her stay here ten years ago, not really caring to come here in the first place, but she did vaguely remember Hiccup. How could she forget the boy who answered to her every wish? The only thing she would enjoy about this week for sure, was ordering that scrawny thing all over the island, what else would she do anyways?

"… Nice seeing you again Heidi…" Hiccup said expressionless. This was already turning out to be completely unbearable, but he still knew the worse had yet to come.

"I'll show you to where you'll be sleeping" Stoick said to Hedvig, leading him towards the lodgings. "Hiccup... uh… go show Heidi around."

The two burly chieftains made their way up the hill and left the two teen's behind, Hiccup sinking his head low in pity.

"Okay… Heidi, how about we go see the training ring, I'm pretty sure that's where everyone is." He proposed after a few moments of awkward silence.

She continued to look unimpressed but managed out a brief, "It better not stink."

They trekked up the hill in the other direction toward the huge arena, Heidi complaining at everything she saw; the mud, the smell, _the people._ When they walked through the stone entrance, they could clearly see the other teens tending to their dragons.

Heidi's dull expression soon changed into one of both horror and awe as she saw the Vikings communicating with dragons in ways other than running towards them with a weapon. This was, in fact, her first time encountering tamed dragons, and it was hard for her to believe her eyes.

"Welcome to the Dragon training Academy… uh, I'm sure you remember everyone right?" Hiccup said stuttering a bit, naturally.

Ruff and Tuff were trying to balance things on Barf and Belch's heads while Fishlegs was pouring some water onto the lounging Meatlug. Though, what Snotlout was doing with Hookfang, or rather, what Hookfang was doing with Snotlout, was a little bit harder to interpret.

"If this is a Dragon_ training_ academy, why is that boy getting eaten by that nightmare?" Heidi pointed towards Snotlout hanging out of Hookfang's mouth, on the other side of the ring.

"Oh... they do that sometimes." Hiccup shrugged.

"Hey! not in front of the chiefs daughter!" Snotlout yelled at the stubborn dragon, but he continued to swing Snotlout around in his mouth playfully. He always chose the wrong times to not listen to his rider.

The other teens seemed to notice then, that the famed Heidi the hellish was in their midst.

"Oh Heidi! Hi do you- er, Heidi you- _How_ do you do!" Fishlegs viciously stammered, dropping his bucket and removing his helmet, as soon as he noticed the girl.

"Huh!? Heidi's here?" Tuffnut yelled obnoxiously, turning around towards them as he spoke "Isn't she that-" but he stopped midway as his eyes landed on Heidi's still spiritless expression. He didn't remember much of her last time she was on Berk, he didn't remember a lot of things even now. But he hadn't expected her to look so dazzling. Her eyes, her lips, her hair, her nose! It was just too perfect to him. He was immediately dazed and unable to finish his sentence.

Ruffnut turned around as well to see what the whole commotion was about, " Oh yeah Heidi!" She exclaimed as she saw the girl standing there arms crossed, but then though for a moment, "Wait…Who are you again?" she questioned the stranger, clueless as usual.

Heidi scoffed at Ruffnut's not knowing who she was and stomped right up to her in a flustered way, "_I_ am Heidi "the heavenly" Horvath, The _beauteous_ heiress to the Glunky Gunnsons, and the most divine creature you will _ever_ lay your eyes on. Thank you very much." She crossed her arms in conclusion and held her head high, despite being the shortest one there.

Ruffnut stared at her with a blank expression, "… What's a booty-us?"

"I don't know what booty-us means, but you sure are pretty." Tuffnut said, still dazed.

Barf and Belch saw the small girls threatening stance and slithered their necks in front of Ruff and Tuff, hissing all the while. Heidi was caught off guard and yelped at the surprise "attack".

"Ahh!" She grasped onto the person nearest to her, which was Hiccup, and hid behind him. "Get it away! Get it away!"

"They're harmless Heidi! Just calm down and stop screaming" Hiccup tried to calm her, but she only pulled on his sleeve harder continuing to jump up and down and shriek, "get it away Right now!"

"Hey stop screaming, you're making Barf nervous!" Ruffnut held onto to Barf's head and rubbed it soothingly."

"I'm making _it_ nervous!?" Heidi questioned, as she seemed to stop wailing, but was still visibly tense, and still holding onto hiccups arm. Tightly.

"They were just trying to protect Ruff and Tuff," Hiccup hoped explaining would help her release her grip, "You're a stranger to them, and they might see you as a threat. Zipplebacks _can_ be a bit hostile…"

She lessened her grip on his arm and seemed to relax a bit more at this, " Well, don't let that thing get near me…"

Snotlout had managed to escape from Hookfang's mouth by this time and ran over to the other teens, " Hei-…hei" He was breathing heavily, as it was quite strenuous to escape from a dragon as stubborn as Hookfang.

"Heidi! You remember me right?" Snotlout began to say, but he noticed her hands wrapped around Hiccups arm absently and his eyes widened, " Hey!, You've already got Astrid! Leave some of them for us why don't ya?"

"What?" Hiccup blushed at the mention of Astrid's name then looked down to his arm, "Oh!" He removed his arm from Heidi's grasp abruptly, "She was scared so I-"

"Don't think _he_ can do anything if you're in trouble, he can barely keep himself alive." Snotlout threw his thumb towards Hiccup distastefully.

"I don't think that was necessary-" Hiccup murmured in a flat tone but Snotlout continued.

"If you need safety, you can count on me." He then flexed his biceps promptly, "And these!"

She looked at him up and down, "And…Who are you?"

"The name's Snotlout… Snotlout Jorgenson, "He introduced himself as he took hold of Heidi's hand as smoothly as he could manage and kissed it.

"Eugh…" She scrunched her nose feeling the dragon slobber that covered his face ooze onto her hand, and snatched it from his.

"Snotlout can't even defend himself from his own dragon! I will be your protector!" Tuffnut spoke up, escaping from his daze.

Heidi looked at him an eyebrow raised, but before she could say anything a dragon was heard from above.

Heidi re-attached herself onto Hiccup and looked at the Nadder that roughly landed itself into the middle of the ring. For a Viking girl, she really was a coward, even more-so than Hiccup used to be. All Vikings, male or female, were considered to be fearless, but it seemed that Hedvig wasn't worried about his daughter not being able to fend for herself when he wasn't around.

"That's just Stormfly and Astrid." Hiccup explained as he noticed her tense stance once again.

"Astrid?" Heidi repeated as she noticed the blonde Viking girl hop off of the dragon with her axe in hand. She flipped her braid over her shoulder and lightly adjusted her shoulder pads, as she turned to approach the other Vikings. Hiccup smiled, not really thinking much of it, but Astrid's presence just had a good effect on his mood.

Heidi though, seemed to be looking down on even Astrid. Establishing that she may be the prettiest Viking girl she had seen on the island so far, but not any real competition compared to herself.

Astrid began to say something, but then her eyes landed on the heavily accessorized girl, as well as her grip on Hiccups arm. She tucked her Axe under her elbow and went up to the group.

"That's Astrid, don't mess with her though she's crazy…" Snotlout said to Heidi while cupping the side of his mouth attempting to whisper. Astrid heard him and sent him a sharp glare in response.

"You must be Heidi." Astrid tried to give her most convincing smile, knowing that the chief would have wanted her to act cordial. Heidi didn't seem that bad anyways, the only thing she wanted to figure out was why she was holding onto Hiccup like that.

"Obviously." Heidi replied flatly. She then scrunched up her nose and turned to Hiccup, "I'm bored."

Astrid's eyebrow raised at the girls tone and her fists clenched at her side.

"Uh…" Hiccup looked at Heidi nervously.

"Why don't I take you for a ride then?" Snotlout offered as he neared Heidi at an uncomfortable closeness.

"On what…? That thing?" She pointed at his large dragon, "You've got to be kidding me…"

Snotlout frowned before Fishlegs cut in, "It really isn't as dangerous as it seems. Dragons are misunderstood as violent creatures, but my meatlug here is the sweetest, gentlest dragon around, perfect for a first time rider. And lucky for you Gronkles only have a level 4 speed, compared to the Monstrous Nightmares who are level 16 on speed, not to mention one of the most aggressive domesticated dragon species you'll find. And-"

"Whoa, hold it. No need for the nerd talk." She put a finger to her chin and scanned the arena," aren't there any other dragons?"

"Hey! What's wrong with my beautiful Meatlug?" Fishlegs put his hand on his hips, a hurt look on his face, "She didn't want to give you a ride anyways… Come on girl." Fishlegs murmured as he and meatlug plodded away from the other Vikings.

"There are plenty of dragons on Berk... speaking of which" Hiccup turned to Astrid, "Where's Toothless?"

"I saw him when I was flying overhead, I think he was headed this way." Astrid informed.

"Who's Toothless…?" Heidi questioned, with a confused expression.

Just as Heidi finished saying his name, Toothless came springing into the arena his gummy smile out for everyone to see and headed straight for Hiccup.

"Agh!" Hiccup managed to get out before, Toothless struck. He captured the boy in his wings and rolled to the side. To which he responded with laughter, "Toothless we just saw each other less than an hour ago!"

"I think he was worried, because you looked like you were leaving or something," Astrid commented.

"AHH!" Heidi screeched louder than before, " is that… is is that-"

Everyone winced.

"Yes, behold the night fury, the offspring of lightning and death itself…" Hiccup laughed weakly as he looked up at the dragon's wide-eyed and giddy expression. "The horror"

Heidi was still petrified, until she saw Hiccup laughing up at the dragon, no fear or uneasiness in his eyes. It was no doubt the oddest thing she'd ever seen, especially how comfortable he seemed to be in the creatures embrace. She had never seen a night fury before, and certainly hadn't expected it to look like this. It didn't even have teeth!

"That's really a night fury?" She pointed at the ebony scaled dragon with a hand over her mouth.

"Yup," Astrid confirmed as Hiccup stood up and attempted to straighten his tunic,

"Do you… want to touch him?" He asked putting a hand on the dragon's nose lightly and led him towards Heidi's tense frame.

Heidi wasted no time in reaching out with her hands to touch the large reptile, but Toothless shied away, a faint glare in his eyes. He had a bad feeling about this one... the feeling he gets when he meets a bad person, and Toothless was a very good judge of character for a dragon.

"Hey" She complained as she reached further, but toothless dodged her touch again, "It won't stay still!"

Ruffnut laughed, "Maybe he doesn't like you…"

Heidi balled her fists and glared at Ruffnut, "excuse me?"

"What she said was that he just doesn't do well with strangers…" Hiccup interjected, "It's alright Toothless she's a guest."

Astrid smirked her arms still crossed over each other. Toothless was like an overgrown puppy dog, and the friendliest dragon she'd ever seen. The only reason he wouldn't like Heidi was either because she posed a threat to Hiccup, or he had a bad feeling about her. And Heidi was really not that threatening so it would have to be the latter.

"Well I want to ride it!" Heidi reached towards the dragon again, but Hiccup held his arm out.

"Okay, okay," he then turned to Toothless, "How about a short flight, nice and easy?"

The dragon smiled when he heard the word 'flight', under the impression that it would be only Hiccup and him. His excitement only grew when Hiccup hoisted himself onto the saddle.

"Careful Heidi…" Snotlout rushed over to Heidi to help Heidi lift her leg over the saddle. She slapped at his hands and pulled herself up on her own. When toothless felt the extra weight he grimaced and turned towards Hiccup who patted his head reassuringly and whispered "nice and slow, okay?"

The other teens were already up in the air, ready to escort the "princess" on a dragon flight around the island. But toothless had other plans. He didn't like this human, and wanted to make sure she would never come back.

As he lifted his wigs and heaved himself into the air slowly and gently, but when he was among the other teens he let the race begin. Without warning he thrust his wings backwards and flew as fast as his body would let him.

"Oh so Hiccup wants to race? I'll definitely beat him this time, come on Hookfang!" Snotlout raced after them.

"Looks like a race!" Ruffnut said to Tuffnut with elation.

"Yeah, I'll beat you this time for sure!" He responded.

"Never!" Ruff hollered.

"You guys are on the same dragon!" Astrid yelled at them both before rolling her eyes and easily catching up with Snotlout.

"Oh yeah…" The twins glanced at each other then followed suit.

"Hey wait for me!" Fishlegs waved at them, knowing full well they wouldn't slow down, especially for him.

"Toothless! What are you doing!?" Hiccup yelled, holding onto the saddle as tight as he could, but Heidi was too caught off guard to grip anything and began sliding down Toothless' back screeching at the top of her lungs all the while.

Toothless then lifted his nose skyward and began flying vertically, getting higher and higher into the clouds, hoping she would fall off already.

"Toothless! Stop!" Hiccup panicked. He disliked Heidi just as much as anyone else, and he'd gladly kick her off if he had the chance, but war was not something he wanted to find when he landed.

"DADDY!" Heidi screeched but her calls for help were in vain, "GET ME OFF OF THIS THING!"

She would get off alright. Toothless arched his back and began flying upside down, letting Heidi slip off the saddle completely and begin falling to the ocean, her screams, surprisingly getting louder.

"Toothless!" Hiccup yelled. He knew his dragon wasn't going to let her fall to her death, but toothless didn't understand just how much trouble he had just gotten them into. When they landed Hiccup was sure to be in world of trouble. He actually kind of hoped the Gunnsons would start a war. That might distract his father long enough to not unleash his wrath.

"I will save you Heidi!" Snotlout saw the opportunity to display his saving-damsels-in-distress skills, but Toothless got there before he could reach her. He swooped her up with ease, giving her just enough time to get a good grip on Hiccups abdomen, and she didn't waste a moment.

Hiccup lost his breath with how tight she held onto his stomach, and it didn't help that she was close enough to screech right into his ear now.

"GET ME DOWN, GET ME DOWN!"

Toothless rolled his eyes and decided that they everyone has had enough of the screaming, slowing down to a pleasant glide.

She was breathing hard now, her face red from the screaming and her clothes and hair all disheveled. "You're dead" huff "Hiccup," huff "just wait till I tell my" huff huff "Father about this"

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**(A/N) I hope no one waited long for this update, i was quite busy this week! anyways, if you like the story so far, or have any suggestions please please please leave a review! I also posted a few sketches of Heidi on my deviant art, check it out if you want to see what she looks like. here is a link to my profile **** .com **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four**

Hiccups head was hung low in dread, his gaze fixed upon the tiny blades of grass that managed to sprout in the cold weather like this. They were all standing on the Cliffside near the docks, where Toothless had landed, Hiccup, Heidi, Stoick and Hedvig, that is. Hiccup was trying to look as remorseful as he possibly could, while Heidi went on listing off his crimes, but couldn't ignore the tiny voice in his head that kept saying she deserved it.

"He flew me up into the air, against my will!" Heidi explained with exaggerated hand gestures, "on that thing!" she pointed to toothless who sat next to Hiccup, rolling his eyes with every word.

_Not true_

"That vicious creature, which tried to kill me!" Heidi flung her slender arms around her father's stout figure and began letting out choking sobs.

_Not true_

"Leaving me within inches of my life!" She elaborated, drawing out the last word of every phrase in a long excruciatingly annoying whine. "Hiccup practically pushed me off of it, with his own hands!" She added.

_So not true_

"I was petrified!" she finished, her face scrunched up into one of pure agony, but funny enough there were no tears.

Her father pulled on his long grungy beard with one hand gently, the look of outrage at the tortuous turn of events expressed by his dearly beloved so woefully, stuck on his face. When she was done explaining he slowly directed his eyes towards Hiccup, the pulling of his beard finally ceasing as his cold hard eyes met Hiccups frightened gaze. He was expecting the worse.

"You dare to assault my darling daughter!?" Hedvig questioned his voice rising dramatically.

"I- it isn't…- I didn't!" Hiccup stammered nervously trying to explain his side, but the large man was approaching him menacingly. Toothless lowered his head and began to growl lowly at the threatening man, warning him to keep his distance.

Stoick glared at his son before stepping in front to take over, "Hedvig It was a misunderstanding." placing a hand on his shoulder timidly.

Hedvig shrugged his hand off and neared his face, "Are you calling my darling Heidi a liar…?"

"No… no I am just saying that maybe she misunderstood."

"I understood just fine that you tried to kill me!" Heidi interjected pointing at Hiccup and the dragon.

"Toothless would never-" Hiccup tried to speak but his voice was quickly overpowered.

"Hiccup." Stoick bit at his son, turning to meet his gaze. Hiccup, looked up at his father pleadingly but was only met with his familiar and unwavering icy glare. Lowering his head, Hiccup decided it'd be best to keep his mouth shut.

"Listen… Hedvig, it was a mistake. No one got hurt, and I promise, it won't happen again." Stoick explained, then nudged Hiccup forward by his shoulders.

"I'm Sorry." Hiccup muttered with a sigh, his shoulders sagging and his gaze pointed to the ground "It…It won't happen again..."

Hedvig had calmed down but was still a bit unsettled, "You'd better hope to the Gods it doesn't… or it's a Declaration of war you'll be finding at your table." He turned with a flare of his heavy fur cape and headed for the lodgings, "Come Heidi."

"Yes Daddy." She chimed before she turned to Hiccup arms crossed, and lifted her chin. Her mouth was turned up into a smirking grin and her voice oozed with malicious intent, "You're Lucky this time, but I hope you'll try harder to keep me happy now that you know what's at stake. See you later." She said as menacingly as her high-pitched voice could let her, still out of Stoick's earshot.

Toothless growled at Heidi as she sashayed after her father up the hill, latching onto his arm when she caught up to him. He turned to Hiccup letting the snarl fall of his lips and nudged the boy's cheek a little bit.

Hiccup seemed crushed, and looking at his defeated expression only made the dragon feel even worse. He never liked to see Hiccup sad like this, had this all been his fault?

The Dragon pointed his eyes towards the girl in the distance, almost disappearing over the hill. It was definitely her fault, she was the one who made Hiccup like this, Toothless thought, and she deserved everything she got. So why was Hiccup the one suffering?

"This close Hiccup…" Stoick held up his hand and showed his son the tiny bit of space between his forefinger and thumb, "This close, and we would have had a war on our hands."

"dad-" Hiccup tried.

"I ask you to do one thing Hiccup. How can you control an entire tribe if you can't even control your own dragon?"

"I didn't know that he was gonna- I-I did nothing!"

"Exactly, you did nothing! Don't you see how hard I'm trying to make you into a proper chief? You won't be young forever, you have to take responsibility Hiccup! Just because we have dragons now doesn't mean you can be careless!"

"What?"

"Don't you even care? Don't you care that-"

"What?!" Hiccup interrupted, his voice raising as well, "You think I don't care?! You think I'm not doing everything I can?!" He held his head up and neared his father, flaring his arms up with each phrase. "I went from being Hiccup the useless to the future chief of Berk! I went from not being trusted with any responsibilities at all to having to run a dragon academy and being responsible for every dragon on this island! Everything has changed! The only thing that hasn't changed is the fact that I'm never going to be good enough for you!"

"Hiccup"

"And after one mistake, that I didn't even have any control over, you can just stand there and tell me that I don't care? Don't you see that I'm trying my best?" And he had been, he could only do so much. Between trying to balance all the new changes, and trying to please his father, Hiccups plate was full.

He turned away from his father and muttered dimly, "But I guess my best just isn't good enough is it?" He hoisted himself onto the saddle on toothless' back and took off before Stoick could even reply. Leaving the chief standing there speechless.

The large man sunk his head despite the few passersby that had just stumbled upon a new piece of gossip. He shook his head and rubbed his eye sockets with his thumb and forefinger, realizing that maybe he had been a bit hard on the boy. But His father wasn't easy on him when it was time for him to become chief, Stoick thought, this is just something that isn't handled lightly and Hiccup would have to step up to the plate sooner or later.

"He's right, you know" a voice came from behind him suddenly.

Stoick twirled around to see Gobber standing closely behind him stroking his braided mustache.

"Odin's beard, Gobber!" Stoick backed away surprised to see the man. Anyone could usually detect him just by the loud sounds he made with his tottering gait. After all, men that big aren't particularly subtle, especially one without a leg and an arm.

"What're you yelping like that for? It's only me!" Gobber held his hands up, confused at Stoick's surprise.

"Gobber, when did you get there?" Stoick questioned, after adjusting his armor and recomposing himself quickly. "Where have you been anyhow?"

"You know Stoick" Gobber began with a sly smile, lightly tugging on his mustache again, "Why else would the village be so quiet today? That little devils here for the week, and no one want's anything to do with her, her father, or any Glunky Gunnson for that matter."

Stoick thought for a moment, the village has been a bit quiet. He took a look around and noticed only a few people walking about, "Well, let them all know that just because the Chief and his daughter are here, doesn't mean they don't have any work to do. A village can't work itself can it?"

"Aye, but just know the risk you're running." Gobber nodded then hobbled off, disappearing down the hill. Stoick shook his head and went in the opposite direction.

"Ugh!" That self-entitled slimy, snot-nose prick! " Astrid ranted "She thinks she's some princess? Please!"

"What? She's an angel!" Tuffnut defended her, thinking back to the time he first saw her in the ring. The light was hitting her face in just the right position, and she looked like she was glowing.

"Eugh… you've got to be kidding" Ruffnut groaned, her hand

"You're just jealous because you look like a dragon's-"Tuff began, but Ruff shoved his face out of the way before he could finish. He shoved her back, and they quickly began tussling each other.

"_Obviously_" Astrid mimicked her voice nasally, remembering the first words spoken to her by that brat and flopping her hands around the way Heidi would, "It just makes me want to- UGH!" She hurled her axe in front of her, as hard as she could, her eyes squeezed tightly.

The axe spiraled through the air, and flew right past Hiccup, who had just entered the Arena. Toothless had entered closely behind him when the Axe lodged itself into a wooden stand near the entrance. The dragon was totally caught off guard and jumped back in fright. When he realized it was Astrid who threw it he gave an annoyed grumble of disapproval.

Hiccup froze just as it shot right past his head, inches away. His wide eyes landed on the axe next to his head then moved slowly towards Astrid when she opened her eyes in surprise, holding his hand up he pretended to surrender "What did I do this time?"

"Oh, Sorry Hiccup!" She ran over and dislodged her Axe with ease, then turned to Hiccup with a worried expression "Uh… how'd it go?"

"Well, apparently I almost started a war… by doing nothing." Hiccup said, obviously disheartened, but with never ending sarcasm. He leaned against the stone walls of the arena, while toothless bounded off to go play with the other dragons.

Astrid leaned her axe against the wooden post and went to sit next to Hiccup.

"I just wish he would listen you know? It's obvious I'm _never_ going to be the chief he wants me to be, I could _never_ be like him, and last time I tried to even act remotely like Viking I just made everything worse." Hiccup explained, and with that Astrid could kind of tell what Stoick had said to Hiccup.

"Hiccup, You're dad isn't the listening type. I think if you can _show_ him that you can be chief your way, he'll notice." Astrid Began, "And…" She always hated when he said things like _act like a Viking_ the way she sees it, he would be a Viking no matter what he does, "Before you found Toothless you were a Viking. When you challenged tradition you were a Viking. When you ended the war between Vikings and dragons you were a Viking. A Viking isn't the way that you act Hiccup, It's who you _are_." She told him reassuringly.

Hiccup thought about her words for a long moment as his head hung low, "But how can I become the chief he wants you me to be? How can I show him that I can be something I'm just not?"

Astrid sighed, "Being a chief isn't about being the best warrior or biggest Viking, It's about knowing how to protect your people. You stopped a war that has been going on for centuries, just by doing what you thought was right. Why question your judgment now?"

Hiccup was silent. Everything she said was true… but he was still unsure about what he thought was right.

"Besides," Astrid shoved his shoulder lightly, "you have a long way to go till becoming chief… "

"Yeah…" Hiccup muttered.

Astrid looked at him for a moment, then pushed herself up offering her hand, "Come on Hiccup. Now that Heidi's gone we can actually have some fun."

He took her hand and hoisted himself up, smiling "Sure are right about that"

Soon all the teens took to the skies with their dragons and flew around the island as the sun slowly set, getting a chance to enjoy a peaceful evening they thought they wouldn't get to have.

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**(A/N): Thanks for reading! I would really love as much reviews as possible, to help me get better at my writing and help me improve the story. Or just to tell me what you think about it so far.**

**I will post web address to my deviant art and tumbler if you would like to follow me and see some of my httyd fan art. Feel free to leave suggestions or requests on either of those accounts!**

**my Deviant art, where i posted some pictures of Heidi is Beaubaloo**

**and my tumbler URL where i post most of my httyd fanart is hiccstridsick**

**I will update as soon as i can!**


	5. Chapter 5

Hiccups mornings weren't particularly pleasant, the stiff bed and cold air were the things that Hiccup felt he could definitely do without, but he was used to this lifestyle. Wake up, maybe take toothless on a morning flight if it was early enough, get started with daily duties, and start again. But this morning he had the pleasure of waking to the harmonious screech of the ever-displeased Heidi Horvath.

"HICCUP!"

Not only did he have to greet the day with a horrifying wake-up call, but throughout the day he would be summoned in this way.

"HICCUP!"

If she was hungry.

"HICCUP!"

If she was uncomfortable.

"HICCUP!"

If she was bored.

"HICCUP!"

Hiccup could swear on his mother that he had never been called so many times in his entire life. The whole village was more or less used to Hiccup's name being called because he'd accidentally screwed something up, but this was just unbearable.

Just about everyone he'd passed by on his way to aid Heidi in whatever ridiculous task she needed to be done, begged him to make her stop, but there wasn't anything he could do! It wasn't _his_ fault that she felt like she had to call his name every other five minutes. Even when he was near she would scream at the top of her lungs.

Hiccup hurried over to her, balling up his wrists as tight as he could to prevent himself from accidentally strangling her, "what is it now?" He said through clenched teeth.

She eyed him from head to toe, eyebrow raised, "I don't think I like your tone…"

Hiccup let out a long breath and slumped his shoulders, trying to make himself less tense, "Yes, Heidi?" He desperately tried to pull his lips up into a smile, and it came out looking extremely forced.

"It's soooo boring here, I want to do something fun!" She whined, letting her head fall back and lightly hopping on her heels, trying to express the urgency.

"Heidi… I'm not sure what I can do about that…" Hiccup said while rubbing his eyes. He just couldn't understand how she expected him to even try to come up with any ideas, when she could easily accuse him of killing her again, or worse.

She scoffed, "Are you _trying_ to make me mad?" nearing him she poked his forehead, "think of something!" Hiccup lightly swatted her finger away and groaned.

"Hmmm… where is everyone?" Heidi looked around, finally noticing none of the teens were around.

"At the academy, like they usually are." Hiccup said suddenly getting an idea, "how about you go see if they can come up with something to keep you entertained!" He took hold of her shoulders and began nudging her in the direction of the academy, gleeful at the idea of not having her only in his hands.

"Heidi!" Snotlout came rushing towards them as they entered the arena, "Heidi! Are you okay? I hope you aren't injured from that life-threatening experience yesterday!"

Astrid came up behind him and crossed her arms, jutting out her hip as she sighed, "You were there Snotlout, and you didn't seem so concerned when you were laughing…"

"I wasn't laughing!" Snotlout pulled his shoulders back and gave an angry glare at Astrid, "I… was uh… crying!" he said turning to Heidi again and taking her hands in his, " I was so worried…"

"Ew," She snatched her hands away and wiped them on Hiccups shirt sleeve, "whatever"

"Uh, guys," Hiccup pulled up a finger, "Heidi is bored. How about you guys find something fun to do?"

"Perfect timing!" Fishlegs said from behind Hiccup which startled him slightly, though, Fishlegs was well known for sneaking up on Hiccup despite his size and the Viking boy was pretty much used to it by now. "We were just about to go find Tuffnut's mace! He dropped it the other day when we were flying over the forest!"

"I didn't drop it! I was _trying_ to throw it at Ruffnut!" Tuffnut interjected.

"Well, couldn't Gobber make a new one for you?" Hiccup asked.

"I know right!? But Gobber was all like," Tuff imitated Gobber in a whiney voice, "I've already made you seven blah blah blah," Hiccups eyes widening at his statement. Seven maces? Only Tuffnut could manage to go through seven Maces, when they weren't even in the middle of war, or battling dragons anymore.

"Well, Okay…" He shrugged. Looking for Tuff's mace could be something to keep Heidi occupied, "But no dragon rides." Hiccup said firmly not wanting another repeat of yesterday.

"What? But why!?" Ruffnut whined.

"Don't you guys remember what happened yesterday-"Astrid began but Heidi interrupted.

"Why not?!" She puffed out her chest defiantly and crossed her arms.

"Yeah Hiccup? Why not? Just because you're dragons a spaz doesn't mean Heidi can't handle dragons!" Snotlout yelled, obviously trying to side with Heidi.

"Yeah, are you trying to _insult_ me right now?" she neared Hiccup, Snotlout's comment only adding fuel to her fire.

He put his hands up in defense and stammered, "uh, n-no that's not what I was trying to do I was just."

"I want to ride dragons!" She stomped her foot apparently having no regard of the events that happened yesterday.

"Yeah! She wants to ride dragons!" Snotlout echoed, only encouraging her all the more.

"Not helping Snotlout…" Hiccup murmured uncharacteristically, but Heidi spoke again.

"You can't tell me what to do anyways…" She crossed her arms and looked away.

"Yeah, but I'm responsible-"

"And don't you dare try to stop me. My father doesn't take too kindly to people who don't give me what I want." She said in a venomous tone as she stuck her nose high in the air.

"I'll give you something-" Astrid began, balling her fists, the heat of her anger rising with every word that came out of Heidi's mouth. Though Astrid knew what would happen if she didn't keep her cool, every second in the presence of this self-entitled narcissistic brat clouded her logic and reason even more.

Hiccup saw Astrid, and she looked like a pot about to blow its lid off. Touching her upper arm lightly and making eye contact, Hiccup silently told her to calm down. She breathed and unclenched her fists, trying her hardest to just let it go.

"Okay Heidi you can ride Meatlug…" Hiccup sighed.

Fishlegs seemed to become elated with the choosing of his dragon, who rarely ever got any attention. The Gronkle was not the fastest nor the most impressive of dragons to the other riders, but to Fishlegs, Meatlug was the best dragon in the world. He just wanted everyone else to see it that way. "Gronkle is the perfect choice Hiccup."

Heidi smirked, "Whatever, it's not like I need your permission." She turned with a flip of her thick and heavy braids and strutted over to Meatlug who lay on the other side of the arena looking to be half asleep. Fishlegs scurried after her to help her board his dragon, wiggling his eyebrows at an annoyed Snotlout. Content that_ he _got to sit close to Heidi, which was something Snotlout had been wanting to do since she arrived on the island. Apparently the Jorgenson charm wasn't working as well as he'd hoped.

The rest of the teens mounted their dragons and left the academy, heading for the forest where Tuffnut had dropped his mace. Meatlug, holding no resentment towards Heidi just yet, didn't give her any trouble, and proved to be an excellent beginner dragon. Though, Heidi still looked unamused, with Fishlegs sputtering facts into her ears all the while.

Astrid stayed behind for a bit though, to help Hiccup find toothless and then take off with him. The more time away from Heidi the better, she figured. They found Toothless helping himself to fish, that some of the village children had offered, outside of the academy and Hiccup hopped on him quickly. Soon they were both flying close behind the other teens.

Heidi seemed to be managing well, not too much fear in her eyes. She was holding onto Fishlegs' shoulders lightly, looking to be enjoying the ride because all she was saying was "Faster!"

"Are you sure? I told meatlug to take it easy since you're a beginner but-"Fishlegs began.

"Faster!"

"Fine if you want the full-on Gronkle experience, you got it!"

"By 'full-on' what exactly do you mean?" Hiccup sounded worried, but his question fell on deaf ears, Fishlegs was too excited to hear him. Finally someone will have the opportunity to appreciate the majestic dragon that is the Gronkle, was all that Fishlegs was thinking about. Fishlegs pushed his shoulders forward and urged Meatlug to go as fast as he could carry himself. Which wasn't very fast compared to other dragons, but luckily, Heidi hadn't really ridden any other dragons.

"Woooo!" Heidi put her hands in the air and hollered, obviously enjoying the experience.

Snotlout scowled at Heidi's enjoyment on Fishlegs' Gronkle and decided it was time to give the Jorgenson charm another go.

"Hey!" He waved and hollered in Heidi's direction, "Look Heidi, look!"

The girl turned her head towards the boy and the monstrous nightmare, hoping it was something good.

"Check this out!" He yelled over before he let go of Hookfang and slowly got to his feet, struggling to balance on the flying dragon. Heidi's eyes widened a bit, seemingly impressed by something she had never seen before. When Snotlout noticed her piqued interest, his confident rose, and he stood to his full height sporting a charming smile all the while. Deciding to add a little flare he puffed his chest out, flexed his arms, and rested a foot on one of Hookfang's horns gallantly. When the dragon felt pressure on his left horn he thought Snotlout wanted him to do a swift twirl, and acted accordingly, sending his rider flying off the side of his dragon and plummeting to the forest below.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut laughed, always finding Snotlout's misfortune a funny sight, but the other teens seemed nonchalant, this not being the first time they'd seen Snotlout thrown of his own dragon.

"Hookfang!" Snotlout alerted the distracted dragon, and after a few moments he dived downward to retrieve his rider, Heidi's interest already lost. Soon Snotlout was back on his dragon safe and sound, more or less, his "Jorgenson Charm" failing him once again.

Within a few minutes they were within the location Tuffnut recalled losing his Mace. They all landed in a clearing and dismounted their dragons, looking about the clearing curiously.

"Okay, so where do we look Tuff?" Hiccup shrugged.

He put a hand on his chin and looked around. "This tree looks familiar," He mumbled, coming closer to a large tree, "And maybe this rock-" He slumped his shoulders "Ah, I got nothing"

"Okay how about we split up?" Snotlout suggested, then grabbed a hold of Heidi's arm quickly, "I call Heidi."

Before she could push him off, the twins walked off with Fishlegs and Astrid pulled hiccup in the opposite direction, leaving Snotlout and Heidi deserted in the clearing. She finally pried him off with a huff, leaving him to stumble onto the ground, and walked away. "Wait!" Snotlout called out before he scurried after her.

After making sure that Heidi was out of earshot, Hiccup let out a long drawn out sigh of contentment, "Finally, some peace and quiet…"

Toothless hummed in agreement as He, Hiccup, Astrid and Stormfly strolled through the forest.

"I wish we could just leave her here and fly off, and never have to see or hear about her again." Hiccup said absently as he patted toothless' head.

Astrid just huffed at the thought of Heidi, her shoulders still tense and anger still bottled up inside of her. She could think of a few things she wanted to do with that girl.

"…Astrid…Uh you alright?" Hiccup looked at her, noticing the tension.

She was silent for a few moments then sighed, "Yeah…" She twirled her axe in between her fingers as they walked, "Just can't believe it's only the second day."

Hiccup smiled as they walked side by side, "Tell me about it, let's just be thankful we aren't Snotlout right now…"

She laughed at his comment, "I'm always thankful that I'm not Snotlout."

Hiccup nodded with a wider smile, "Well said-" He began, but the ground slid from under him and his prosthetic sent him shooting forward. His butt landed on the damp earth and he found himself sliding down a muddy slope. Toothless pounced after him, but slipped on the mud as well, and was soon tumbling down right behind Hiccup. They both met at the bottom tangled with each other in what seemed to be a small muddy den surrounded by large trees and hooded with intertwined branches.

Astrid stopped walking abruptly just as Hiccup slid down the slope and peered over the edge to see where he had ended up, "Hiccup! Are you alright?" She called out craning her neck forward to see but all she saw were branches and shrubbery.

"Yeah" He managed to call out a few moments later, while looking at his muddied clothes. Turning to toothless he saw him covered in dirt and mud as well. "You okay bud?"

The dragon nodded, shaking off what dirt her could, and sending it flying all through the den in a dirty dust cloud. Hiccup waved the dust away and began coughing, "Hey!"

Astrid could barely hear him, as she continued to inch forward cautiously. "Hiccup?" She called out in a worried tone, then glanced at the slope, seeing where Hiccup's prosthetic had slipped, "I'm coming down okay?" She lowered down into a squatting position and slid one leg forward, trying to get down the slope as carefully as she could. "Just hold o-" She tried to reassure him but her back foot slipped from under her and she was sent tumbling down despite her caution.

Hiccup had just gotten up from the ground and began dusting off his clothes until Astrid came crashing into his back, sending them both to the muddy ground again.

He propped himself up on his elbows and peered over his shoulder at Astrid who was still trying to recover her composure from her unexpected fall.

"How graceful," Hiccup teased as he watched her struggle.

"You're one to talk, you fell first!" She said with a laugh.

"Yeah but I'm usually the clumsy one." He turned over on his back and sat up.

"It's muddy Okay?" She stood up steadily, bending her knees and trying to keep her balance on the slippery ground. "Why don't you try coming down a muddy slope when-" but her footing failed her again and she came falling, on top of Hiccup this time. He laughed at her surprisingly clumsy falling streak, this being the third time today.

Quickly she propped herself up on her knees and hands, desperately trying to regain a bit of poise, but stopped when she was looking down at Hiccup, her legs on either side of Hiccup's body and her hands next to his head. He peered up at her in return the laughter dying on his lips. It was silent for a few moments as they stared at each other, and everything seemed still, save for toothless' scurrying around the small den and Stormfly's faint squawking atop the slope.

A feeling of apprehension and hesitancy hung in between them as Astrid's awkward position seemed just a bit suggestive, and after a few moments, a hot blush had found its way on both their faces. Astrid was the first to near Hiccups face, her emotions taking control of her as they usually did, and Hiccup seemed to be letting it happen. The moment was escalating at its own comfortable pace, but as it happened, they both stopped abruptly, their minds finally catching up with their bodies. This hadn't had been the first time they had found themselves getting closer than usual, but no situation spared any awkwardness. The two teens didn't even know what kind of relationship they were in, and moments such as these weren't uncommon.

Hiccup coughed as he sat up and Astrid tucked her bangs behind her ears nervously, finally managing to stand and hold her feet under her.

"u-hm, Uh so where are we?" She cleared her throat and stepped over him, examining her surroundings more closely. The den around them was surrounded by a wall of twisted trees caked in long-dried mud, and the smell was stale and earthy, the structure obviously not a new one. The ground, covered with wet and sludgy mud seemed to come from above ground, sliding down to the den floor with the water from rain. "I think there's more," Astrid said as she noticed a hollow echo resonating throughout the den. "It might be a tunnel"

Hiccup had gotten himself to his feet now and walked over to Toothless with minimal trouble, "Give us some light bud?" And the dragon complied, releasing a small plasma blast at the darkest corner of the den, the purple beam of light evaporating as it shot through what seemed to be a tunnel system. The light emitting from the blast lit up some muddied walls around it, digging deeper into the tunnel then disappearing into the darkness.

"Yeah, It's definitely a Tunnel," Astrid confirmed as she went to touch one of the walls, "and it looks pretty old."

"I think these may be the tunnels that the whispering death from not too long ago dug." Hiccup figured as he examined the familiar jagged patterns of the wall and recalling the time Toothless was being pursued by an old foe.

"Weren't those tunnels be closed off by boulders?" Astrid commented as she peered up the slope. Stormfly was waiting patiently at the top of the slope looking into the hole curiously, aware that Astrid hadn't been injured in the fall.

Hiccup looked about the den, then locked his gaze down the deepening path of the tunnel "let's go check it out." He proceeded further into the tunnel slowly, toothless trotting behind him closely.

"Stay there" Astrid told Stormfly with a hand gesture, who was all too big to fit comfortably through the tunnels, then caught up with Hiccup and Toothless. She walked near him as the three of them wandered through the muddy and dark shaft, treading lightly.

It was dark, but Astrid noticed something on the ground as they began to walk, "Hiccup look," She pointed indents in the rough soil. Hiccup followed her finger and his eyes widened at the realization. Footprints. And they were not old like these walls. He looked up to meet Astrid's eyes, which seemed to be brimmed with a mix of anxiety and slight incredulity. He nodded and she returned the gesture before they both proceeded further into the tunnel both cautiously and curiously.

After a few minutes of walking straightforward, they finally reached a large boulder that completely blocked the pathway, both relieved and surprised that a boulder was all they had come to meet.

"Just a boulder…?" Hiccup mumbled in disbelief, placing his hand on a flat part of the rough large rock.

"That's weird," Astrid sounded just as shocked, "The footsteps are obviously not as old as the tunnel, and it just leads to a boulder?"

Toothless neared it and sniffed the foot of the boulder, growling in response. Hiccup smoothed his head and gave Astrid a worried look.

"We should go get the others."

* * *

**(A/N): I am sorry this chapter took FOREVER! I was so busy and didn't have the time and just ugh. I just hope it was worth the wait, and I promise I will post new chapters as soon as I can. By the way, reviews are much appreciated and encourage me to do more chapters, so please keep leaving them. and thanks to those who are following the story, I will try not to disappoint! **

**ps. sorry for any mistakes**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

"You said you found what?" Ruff questioned.

"A boulder? What's so special about that?" Tuff added, a bored look on his face.

"No, we found a boulder but-." Hiccup tried to explain.

"So you didn't find a boulder?" Ruff said, obviously still confused.

"Why does it even matter?" Tuff was becoming more impatient.

Everyone except for Heidi and Snotlout had met up at the clearing after about an hour of searching, and Hiccup and Astrid were trying to explain to the others what had happened and without much progress.

Astrid huffed, "We found footsteps in a tunnel that led to a boulder. As far as we know, no one has been in those tunnels since the whispering death incident, and they looked pretty recent."

"And…?" The twins dragged out still not catching on.

"Oh no! That means someone is tunneling through Berk, someone we don't know! What if it's the outcasts! What if- What If-." Fishlegs began to freak out.

"It can't be them… I mean we do island patrols every day, if the outcasts were really planning something we would see their ships." Astrid commented, but her voice didn't sound so sure.

"Well we have to find out soon, for all we know, whoever is tunneling down there could already be close." Hiccup stated. "We have to figure out what we're gonna do first."

"We need to tell the chief!" Fishlegs cried out, still freaking out.

Hiccup's shoulders tensed at the mention of his dad, "I don't know… he seems pretty busy."

"But this is serious Hiccup! If we don't-." Fishlegs pressed.

"What if it isn't what we think it is? We need to check it out first and if it's serious enough, then we can tell the chief…" Astrid said firmly, as she noticed Hiccups tenseness. "Let's just hurry up and find Snotlout and go see." She finished before she climbed atop Stormfly.

The other Vikings followed her and mounted their dragons, taking to the air in search of Snotlout.

"Do any of you guys hear that?" Ruffnut commented after about 20 minutes of flying.

"Yeah…" Hiccup tried to focus his hearing, "It kind of sounds like squealing…"

"Over there!" Astrid pointed down amidst the trees at two running figures. Squinting her eyes she could see Heidi and Snotlout running away from something.

"Snotlout, what are you doing!" Hiccup yelled down to alert Snotlout. The teens were flying close overhead following Snotlout and Heidi as they ran. They were confused because Snotlout seemed to be running for his life in terror, while Heidi had a huge smile on her face.

"Woooo!" She yelled out as she ran with her hands in the air.

Not too far behind a vicious squeal could be heard, and the group looked behind them to find that three huge wild boars were pursuing the duo.

"Where's Hookfang?!" Hiccup questioned knowing that this wouldn't be happening if he were here.

"He ran off!" Snotlout yelled in response in between breaths, "You know how he does that sometimes!"

Hiccup and Toothless swooped closer to the Duo and with his claws, Toothless caught hold of Heidi's furs, lifting her off the ground slowly.

"Heidi! Are you Okay?" Hiccup yelled down at her with a worried look. Not so much as worried for her safety but worried for his, if anything were to happen to her. Fishlegs swooped in after Hiccup to rescue Snotlout, whose foot was nearly clamped on by a wild boar as he was being lifted into the air.

"Snotlout, you were supposed to keep her safe!" Hiccup yelled at the teen who hung upside-down from Meatlug's claws.

"What are you talking about? This is the most fun I've had the whole week!" Heidi yelled back in her defense.

"What!?" Hiccup didn't believe his ears, "You had fun running for your life!?" Was he going crazy, or was it just Heidi? It seems like after her little "death" ride with toothless, she had become quite the adrenaline junkie. After that day Hiccup was sure she wouldn't even get near another dragon, but earlier she had practically begged to ride one, and now she was having a blast while running from a pack of vicious wild boars!?

"Why are you even here!? We were just fine!" She yelled at him.

"Yeah!" Snotlout agreed weakly, still a bit drained from running for his life, "Just fine…"

"You guys could've gotten killed!" Astrid cried out, gesturing to the now dispersing pack of boars behind them on the forest floor.

"Whatever, you're just Boring!" Heidi yelled out and then crossed her arms.

After a few moments they found a place to land. And everyone dismounted coming into a circle to discuss their plan of action. Astrid quickly filled in Snotlout of the problem, and tried to explain to Heidi, but she was just sitting on a rock, legs and arms crossed defiantly.

"So we need to blast that boulder and figure out what's on the other side." Hiccup declared, placing one hand in the other.

"But what if what's on the other side, is dangerous! What If we don't want them to know we know where they are!?" Fishlegs stammered.

"Fishlegs… we have dragons…" Hiccup let his shoulders fall as he gestured to Toothless and the other dragons sitting beside their riders.

"Yeah but-" Fishlegs deflated.

"Okay, let's head out, I think it might be this way" Hiccup hoisted himself onto toothless' back.

It was a short flight, the den not being too far from where Heidi and Snotlout were being chased, though the odd part of the den's location was that it was in a part of the forest that very few treaded. There were in fact wild boars, poisonous plants, and a bunch of other dangerous things, and now that Berk had dragons, few ever bothered walking on foot through the woods.

The moment they landed, everyone dismounted and neared the small slope hesitantly, but stopped in their tracks when they noticed that Heidi was still perched on the edge of Meatlug's back, legs crossed.

"Uh Heidi…" Hiccup tried getting her attention.

"Come on Heidi, let's go blow up a boulder!" Snotlout yelled out obnoxiously.

The girl swung her head towards the group and made a face of disgust, "You expect me" She pointed to herself, "To go down there?" she then pointed to the muddy slope, "Maybe It's okay on Berk to roll around in the mud like stupid pigs, but on my island we don't act like animals."

"It's just a little mud, do you want to stay up here, all alone?" Hiccup tried to coax her off the dragon. This girl was getting even more confusing by the second, not too long ago she was happily being chased by wild boars, and now she's scared of some mud?

"Do you know how expensive these furs are? Besides, I'm not afraid…" She promptly crossed her arms and looked the opposite way.

Hiccup sighed and looked to Fishlegs, "Okay, you can stay up here with Heidi, while we go check it out."

"What?" Fishlegs tried to sound disappointed but he went and stood next to her much too quickly to convince anyone. He was clearly relieved he didn't have to go down the slope.

All the dragons except toothless stayed above ground as the teens carefully slid down the slope into the den.

"Whoa, Cool!" Ruff and Tuff awed in unison as they gazed around the small muddied den.

"This way," Hiccup lead them, recalling where the tunnel was. They continued down the path until they reached the boulder.

"This sure is a big rock…" Snotlout placed a hand on the flat and cold surface of stone.

"It _is_ a boulder." Astrid commented.

"Whatever, how are we supposed to move it?" Snotlout gestured to it pointedly then let his hands fall to his side.

Ruff and Tuff took it upon themselves to hold onto the edges of the rock that were wedged in between the wall and pulled with all their might. But the boulder continued to sit in its place.

"We blow it up of course." Hiccup replied as he placed a hand on toothless' head.

"Yeah," Astrid agreed placing a hand on her hip, "There's no telling what these guys already know. So there's no need to be sneaky about it and waste time."

"I like that idea better!" Tuff and Ruff quickly left the rock alone and hurried to Hiccup and Toothless' side, wanting to get a good view of the destruction that was about to take place.

"Okay bud, plasma blast." Hiccup instructed as he pointed to the large boulder.

Toothless opened his mouth slightly to charge his attack and a sharp purple beam flew from inside his throat straight at its target. Once the blast hit the old stone, the entire structure of the boulder exploded and crumbled before the five Viking teens, swirling clouds of dust being sent into the air to hover then slowly settle.

All of them took defensive stances as they prepared themselves for whatever might be behind the boulder, but after few moments when the dust finally settled, they came to meet nothing on the other side. The puzzled set of teens cautiously stepped forward to inspect the area and found nothing but scattered papers and pieces of wood, metal and spare tools laying around. The small room was lit with a single dying torch that hung on the wall.

Toothless growled and inched forward as he eyed around the small cave, having a bad feeling about all of this.

"There's no one here?" Snotlout exclaimed.

Astrid's eyes circled the room, "Well not anymore. Whoever was here seemed to have left in a hurry." Her brows pointed, "They knew we were going to find them."

Hiccup bent down to pick up a piece of paper on the ground. It was too dark to read anything, "Okay guys let's keep heading down the tunnel and see what we can find, "Hiccup said as he collected all the papers he could see scattered about the small cave.

The five teens continued down the cave in one direction, the torch they had taken from the wall dying with each step.

"It's so creepy in here…" Ruffnut commented as she cupped her arms.

"Ah something touched me!" Tuffnut yelped as he swung his arm in the darkness, hitting Snotlout's stomach with an echoing 'thud'.

"Ow! That's me you idiot!" Snotlout stumbled back away from Tuff and bumped into Astrid.

"Hey! Watch it!" Astrid growled as she pushed him forward back into Tuffnut.

Hiccup just walked behind them next to Toothless and shook his head.

After what seemed like hours, they all began to hear the faint sounds of water up ahead. They all ran toward the sounds and sure enough light could be seen at the end of the tunnel. When they finally reached the outside they all hissed at the blinding sunlight.

"Agh! I thought that tunnel was going to go on forever!" Snot lout held his arms out to stretch in the suns warm rays. Toothless did the same as he spread out his cramped wings to bask in the sun.

"Me too… I was worried we were gonna get lost and have to eat each other or something." Tuffnut commented.

"Ew, no one would want to eat you…" Ruffnut stated as she pushed him.

Hiccup looked around as he took in his surroundings. There was sand and large rocks surrounding them. Huge and violent waves crashing against the rock pillars and a salty smell in the wind.

"This place kind of looks familiar…" Astrid commented as she observed the secluded beach.

Hiccup began walking further down the beach, his curiosity building by the second, and as he turned the corner of an enormous rock pillar, he came to find the docks in his view.


	7. Chapter 7

Toothless and the five teens stood side-by-side on the beach looking up at the docks of Berk.

"That's really odd, I thought we sealed off this tunnel…" Astrid commented as she looked to the docks and back to the tunnel.

"We did, I'm sure of it," Hiccup put a hand to his chin.

He began to feel a small pit of uncertainty growing at the bottom of his stomach. Something wasn't right.

"Well maybe you're NOT so sure of it, because this tunnel isn't filled Hiccup" Snot lout crossed his arms and raised a brow, always ready to question the Viking teen.

"That's impossible" Astrid commented, as she faintly remembered this part of the island being sealed off as well. Even if it wasn't sealed off, that doesn't explain the mess they found in the cave earlier.

"Come on! Hiccup messes up all the time! What's new?" Ruffnut chimed in, half-hearing the conversation.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, "What's new is the fact that someone is on this island. And-"

"And they're trying to hide something…" Astrid finished.

Snotlout headed towards the docks, "Well I'm not waiting up."

"See you guys at the academy!" Ruff and Tuff waved before racing each other to Snotlout.

Hiccup sighed and looked to toothless, who peered up at the Viking with wide worried eyes.

"Hiccup…" Astrid placed a hand on his shoulder to get his attention, "I think we should tell Stoick" but her voice faltered at the end.

His shoulders tensed at the mention of his father, and flashes of their fight before replayed faintly in his head.

_You have to take responsibility Hiccup!_

_Just because we have dragons now doesn't mean you can be careless!_

_Don't you see how hard I'm trying to make you into a proper chief?_

"…Not yet." Hiccup finally said after a long pause.

"But," Her hand fell off his shoulder, then she thought for a moment. She knew how Hiccup felt about his father, and the ice she was treading when she spoke was too thin for her liking, "Look. Hiccup. I know you may be upset with your father but-"

"No, that's not it." He looked up from Toothless to her, "We don't know enough yet. Even if I told him he's way too busy to listen."

"We should gather more information first." He began to walk towards toothless.

"You're right." Astrid said as she looked to the tunnel they had all just emerged from, "You think it might be outcasts?"

Hiccup climbed onto the saddle and hooked his prosthetic into place, "Maybe, but I have a feeling it might be something else…"

Astrid climbed onto toothless behind Hiccup, "Something worse?"

"Something close." Hiccup answered as toothless lifted them into the air. They flew back to the forest to get Fishlegs and Heidi.

"Oh no Hiccup this is really, really, really bad!" Fishlegs cried out as Hiccup and Astrid explained the details of the tunnel to him, "What are we going to do!?"

"Investigate." Astrid answered.

Heidi looked at the girl with speculation, "Investigate? What's there to investigate?" She flipped her braids over her shoulder and lifted her head, "Leave it to the Berkians to look for trouble where there's no trouble to be found…"

"What are you trying to say-" Astrid growled as she loomed over the girl aggressively.

"Well" Hiccup slid between them trying to subtly sever the tension, "Whether there's trouble or no trouble we still need to investigate to ensure the safety of-"

"Whatever." Heidi flipped her head, her braids swinging straight into hiccup's face and strutted away.

Astrid rolled her eyes and stalked away in the opposite direction.

Hiccup sighed and then turned to Fishlegs, "Well I found some stuff down there that might help us out, you have to help me figure it out as soon as we get back to the island, we might not have much time."

Fishlegs nodded then mounted Meatlug along with Heidi, "We'll meet you back at the island."

"Okay" Hiccup agreed before mounting Toothless himself. He looked towards Astrid, seeing her a top Stormfly already.

"Let's go," He tried to say but she was already off, close behind Fishlegs. Hiccup, confused look down to toothless who shot back up at him a similar look along with a shrug.

This whole ordeal left Hiccup feeling odd. Even though the possibility of this mystery being the outcasts was very probable, Hiccup's gut was telling him it was something else, and the fact that he didn't know what that something else was made him feel even more uneasy.

After a long and silent flight, they had all reached the academy, where the other teens' dragons had met them.

"Hiccup!" Heidi jumped off of Meatlug and rubbed her backside, "My butt hurts! I'm sore!"

Rolling his eyes and sighing Hiccup turned to the girl, "Heidi… what am I supposed to do about that?" managing a surprisingly calm voice.

She pointed her eyebrows at him, but seemed too tired to say anything about it, "I want to go back to the hut. I'm sleepy."

"…Don't you know the way?" He asked, his annoyance growing as they spoke.

Heidi smiled a malicious grin, "Carry me."

Hiccups eyes widened at her demand. Did he hear her right?

"Are you… joking?" He asked hesitantly.

"No." She looked down and inspected her fingernails while jutting out her hip, "I wasn't joking when I told you what happens to those who don't give me what I want either."

Hiccup sighed as he turned his back towards her and bent lower so that she could get on easily. He realized then that the only way to be rid of her was to comply.

She climbed up, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, "Don't let me fall or else."

Straitening his legs up, Hiccup lifted the girl up with him then turned to the other teens, "I'll be right back Legs, so that we can look at the-"

"Hurry Up!"

With another sigh he turned away from them and exited the arena, carrying Heidi on his back down the trail, villages laughing as they watched.

"Are you kidding me?" Snotlout huffed in exasperation.

"Let's follow them and see if he drops her!" Ruffnut suggested as she and Tuff snickered beside Snotlout. The three of them hurried down the path behind Hiccup and Heidi.

Astrid just stood there, her mouth hanging open in disbelief. Hiccup was known for his incredibly high tolerance level despite being a Viking, but this was just too much. If it were her, she thought, she would've thrown over that brat into the mud already, and Hiccups quiet compliance only furthered her anger. Trying to calm down she took off somewhere on Stormfly, leaving Fishlegs in the arena with only the rest of the dragons for company.

* * *

**(A/N): Okay, I know it's been a while and this chapter is so short! I'm sorry!**

**It's been difficult to write, and I've been tempted to drop the story, but since there are followers I won't. Please leave reviews on what you think so far about it. That would be a huge help for inspiration!**

**Sorry again, I will try to write, I don't want to just keep uploading shitty short chapters. X(**


	8. Chapter 8

The sun was beginning to set, its orange glow cast across the sky, leaving a warm contrast to the chilly Berkian air. The village was surprisingly quiet, not as much commotion going on as usual. It left an odd silence, but a silence Hiccup was thankful for nonetheless. For the past half-hour he and Fishlegs had been examining the papers he had managed to pick up in the cave earlier today around a table at the academy. The other teens had been off the rest of the day, probably doing chores or something of that nature. Hiccup felt a little down as he looked around the arena, and didn't see Astrid. If she were here, she probably would be a huge help, and he couldn't help but feel she was upset with him for some reason.

"Hiccup?" Fishlegs voice distracted him from his thoughts, "Are you listening?"

"Huh? Yeah uh… what'd you say?"

Fishlegs sighed then pointed to one of the figures on the papers, "Doesn't this look weird? These papers. They look like blueprints."

Hiccup picked up the paper and examined it closely, noticing the measurements and the sketches. He then reached for the other pieces of paper trying to visualize the mechanism in his head, "Yeah, but these don't match up…" He explained, "If these are blueprints, what could they possibly be building?"

Fishlegs shrugged as he took a look at the papers in hiccups hands once more, "I don't know Hiccup, but this is bad."

"I know Fishlegs," Hiccup sighed, "I have a bad feeling about this as well, but we can't make any judgments right now."

"But what if by the time we do figure this out, it will be too late? The chief might be able to do something about this now. I think we should tell him." Fishlegs urged in a worried tone, his knack for caution showing through his words.

Hiccup looked to the ground and then back up to Fishlegs, "I know what you're saying Legs, but not now. I can't explain it, but I have this feeling. We should just try to figure out as much as we can first. Besides," He pointed to the papers, "There were already spare parts around the cave when I found these, they couldn't have built whatever this is that quickly…"

"I hope you're right Hiccup… anyways I'll be heading to the great hall now, I'll see you later." Fishlegs nodded then said before waking meatlug gently and leading him to the exit of the academy. It had gotten darker, and dinner had probably already started.

Hiccup followed them with his eyes, until hey disappeared down the pathway, then looked back down to the papers with a sigh. He wasn't lying when he said he had a feeling. When he imagined telling his father, he didn't think anything good could really come of it, but Fishlegs words had swayed his previous notions, and he found himself feeling even more uneasy.

Folding the papers, Hiccup put them into the pockets of his tunic, wanting to take another look at them when he got home, and turned to exit the arena as well. As he made his way down the path he heard the sound of stone on metal coming from his right. Turning he saw a figure sitting in the shadows against the wall in of the academy.

Slowly he approached, not sure who this person was or what they were doing, and as he came closer he noticed the blonde right away.

"Astrid?" He questioned. Her gaze was turned downward, sharpening her battle-axe with a stone, a leisurely task she did quite often. So often in fact, that Hiccup was convinced the process was in some way therapeutic to her.

"Hiccup." She offered in response, not looking up to meet his gaze. Her tension was noted and Hiccup kept his distance, knowing the consequences of taking an aggravated Astrid too lightly.

"Um…why are you sitting here alone in the dark?" He asked hesitantly.

"Waiting." She stood up from the rock she was sitting on and slung her axe to rest atop her shoulder.

He looked at her for a moment, "Um, well the papers from earlier. They looked like blueprints… I'm afraid whoever was in that cave was building something, but Fishlegs and I couldn't figure out what"

Astrid began walking down the path slowly, and Hiccup came into step beside her, not really sure where they were going.

A thick silence was stuck in between them, the awkward feeling of something that needed settling hung in the air, and Hiccup was debating with himself on what he should say.

"Tomorrow, we can go back and see what else we can find." He offered and she nodded silently looking ahead.

"…" He looked ahead of him as well not knowing what else to say.

"Though I'm not sure if we can do much investigating with Heidi around… You're going to bring her tomorrow too?" Astrid questioned after a few moments, a tone of disgust in her voice when she said the girl's name.

Hiccup sighed as he thought about her, "I hope that it doesn't come down to that, but I can't seem to find a way to get rid of her. My dad wants me to look after her and all."

"Your dad said to meet him in the great hall… he wanted you and Chief Hedvig to talk about something." Astrid mentioned, not wanting to talk about that brat anymore.

At that moment Hiccup realized they had been walking towards the great hall, but with each step they took towards the hall, the urge to run away grew stronger. He didn't know what his dad and the other chief wanted to talk about, but he knew he wasn't going to like it, and to add on to that Hiccup was still feeling bitter towards his father, not wanting to have to face him and listen to the rest of his lecture.

Hiccup stopped abruptly, as they reached the entrance to the hall, the sound of the villagers having dinner inside. He could faintly hear his father's loud voice, conversing with Hedvig. He could even hear Heidi's squeaky whine as she seemed to be seated with the other teens who he could hear as well.

Noticing his halt, Astrid stopped ahead of him and turned to look at him finally, wondering why he stopped suddenly.

Hiccup sighed and then turned to his right and began walking up a different path.

After a few moments of confusion Astrid followed him, catching up easily, due to his slow and somber pace. They continued to walk up an elevating path on the side of the island, Astrid knowing this was leading to a secluded Cliffside overlooking the waters. She observed him as they walked. His slumped shoulders, his dim expression, and realized that her cold demeanor wasn't helping him at all. She had been annoyed at him and Heidi, despite the chief's expectations, and knew her attitude was childish.

She already knew that Hiccup was upset about his father, and she had to be there for him. So she followed him silently up the Cliffside.

Once reaching the top Astrid and Hiccup could clearly see the sun taking its last few glances at Berk before dipping behind the horizon, being replaced with the stars. The mood up on the Cliffside was calming and Astrid could understand why Hiccup preferred this place than the bustling great hall. They sat side by side, near the edge of the cliff, looking out at the ocean in a still silence for a while.

"Hiccup…" Astrid started, not sure how to go about comforting him. The issues she talked to him about his father seemed to be much deeper than she thought, and they were seriously affecting his attitude. Though, she stopped short when she took a look at his face, cast upward to the clouds. Instead of responding to her, he laid back onto the cool grass and continued to stare up at the evening sky.

Astrid did the same, laying down beside him, eyes looking up, and for a short while a calm covered the two. The expansive sky and tiny dotted stars seemed to help them escape where they were at that moment, taking them to a place where there weren't any problems. After what felt like a hours, Astrid looked over to Hiccup, his gaze still focused on the sky.

"Hiccup…" She tried again, but her tone this time was different. It didn't hold any expectations or explanations, or anything else but emotion. He looked to her and their eyes met. Oddly, everything he wanted to say about her, his father, and even himself seemed to be held in this gaze, and at that moment they both realized that they didn't need to say anything.

Hiccup's anxiety over the pressure his father was putting him through, the expectations of the village, even the expectations of their own relationship was relieved, and replaced with peace. Astrid's eyes were the first to close, and Hiccups followed. Slowly, their faces neared, the Cliffside grass tickling their cheeks, and the cool night air brushing over their bodies.

And in a sharp contrast to the chilliness of the evening, a warmth arose at their lips, when they finally met. It was soft, and innocent, and soothing. The skin of their lips remained still, as if each they were basking in the glory of each other, and moving on their own, their bodies seemed to near.

Hiccup's hand was just below Astrid's shoulder, gently caressing the bare skin, and Astrid's hands were both lightly creeping up his chest, on their way to the back of his neck in a subtle attempt to pull him closer. To the two, the moment was timeless, and their brains were frozen, their bodies seeming to move on their own, finally giving in to the attraction they had tried to ignore.

After a few moments, the kiss had seemed to evolve, the innocence and calmness grown into a want and gentle passion. Both of their bodies knew what they wanted, and their minds seemed to be lost to them. Astrid succeeding in pulling the boy closer, her hands now at the back of his neck. And Hiccup's hand had taken a more fierce presence as they had traveled down to her waist all on their own, gently pulling her body closer to his. Their lips came apart and then back together slowly, as if they were trying to find a perfect place to fit together and the only thing either of them could think about at the moment was about how it felt so right.

Not too far away from the two, a rustle could be heard in nearby bushes, and the sound of the shifting leaves seemed to be just the trigger to bring Hiccup and Astrid back to their senses. They jumped up, coming to a sitting position and looked to the source of the sound, quickly being able to move away from each other. In the darkness, they could see nothing, and whatever was there seemed to be gone now.

The two of the concluded to themselves it must've been an animal or the wind, or perhaps that was what both of them would have liked. After a breath of relief, Hiccup and Astrid's eyes had finally met again.

Hiccup froze, his mind feeling as if he had woken up from some type of dream, His actions before, being entirely out of his control. And Astrid, much aware of her actions, blushed fiercely, feeling as if they had just done something unholy. The redness of her face and bashfulness of her attitude was cute to Hiccup, something he'd never quite seen often, and he let out a nervous chuckle. Astrid followed suit, realizing the ridiculousness of their situation, and abnormally, not knowing what to do with herself.

Of course, Astrid and Hiccup had kissed before, but those kisses where short, awkward and didn't have the passion that what they just did had.

They laughed together, at each other, at themselves, and the warmth of each other's company returned. The sound dying naturally on their lips they looked to each other, with the leftover smiles of their laughter.

"I think, maybe they're wondering where we are right about now…" Astrid said with a nervous smile, averting her eyes.

When she looked back at Hiccup, her lips suddenly met with a new and familiar presence once again. Hiccup had leaned in, the action being quite bold for the Viking boy, and kissed her on his own. The kiss, though much simpler, was similar to the first in the fact that it spoke Hiccups words for him. _thankyou._


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

The Great Hall was bustling with the familiar sounds of dining Vikings, the heavy aroma of mead and roasted meat, and the sight of burly Viking men and women heartily enjoying their meals in their endearingly violent manner. Hiccup had always stuck out in the crowd, more so than the other Viking teens, not having as much food on his plate, his downward gaze and not-so rough sense of humor, and now his frame that seemed to look childlike when placed in between two massive Viking men.

They were at a round table and Hiccup's father was seated to his right, Hedvig to his left. Why did he have to sit in-between them? He didn't know the answer, all he did know was that the unresolved tension between his father and him still hung in the air, and he could barely concentrate with it looming over him. Apparently there was something that they needed to talk about, and that terrified Hiccup because he knew it was chief-related, and he had never liked to discuss such things with his father.

Stoick cleared his throat and commenced his proposal to his son, "Hiccup as you know, I've been trying to prepare you for chief-life, and even though that day is not anywhere near us at present, I feel it is imperative that we take the cautionary steps to secure your position as future chief."

_Imperative?_ Hiccup raised a brow at his father feeling something awful coming on.

"You are lucky to be in the position that you're in son, I'm sure with a lot of work, and I mean _a lot_, you will be the perfect chief." Hedvig added while he sported a proud tone.

Hiccup looked around the table, now noticing the expectant gazes of both Hooligan and Gunnson Vikings. Why were they all staring? The pit of uncertainty was quickly growing as the conversation progressed he did not like where this is going.

He turned his head towards the table of teen Vikings across the room, and noticed Heidi sitting there too eating her food quietly. That even added to the uncertainty because, Heidi was _never_ quiet.

Hiccup gulped and turned towards his father who was beginning to speak again, "I know that nowadays, Viking life has strayed far from the… traditional."

"But even today, in a quickly changing society sacrifices still must be made." Hedvig added on, their words sounding uncomfortably rehearsed.

The pit in Hiccup's stomach grew more quickly as each of the Viking chief's words multiplied the apprehension. Wait, hiccup thought, it might just be some of his dinner traveling up his insides; the conversation that Hiccup felt coming and the inescapable feeling of impending doom was _literally_ making him sick.

"Hedvig and I have discussed this thoroughly, an arrangement that would benefit both tribes as well as accommodate your feelings as well." Stoick started.

"And we have concluded an arrangement, of the… matrimonial sort with the Hooligans and the Gunnsons." Hedvig finished.

All of Hiccups thoughts stopped as dreadful realization finally dawned upon him. _Matrimonial_? _Arrangement?_

"Okay, I have one question, if this is what I think it is, how is this _accommodating_ my feelings?" Hiccup questioned with a thoroughly confused tone. This was in no way accommodating, in fact it was the exact opposite!

"Okay, okay we knew you would be opposed to the idea at first, but just hear us out son" Stoick tried to calm the storm before it started but it was clear that Hiccup and He were not on the same page.

"I don't understand the benefit from this, I really don't." Hiccup's anger seemed to rise with each word, "A-a-and WHERE exactly was I when you two made this little arrangement that was apparently supposed to accommodate my feelings?"

"Calm down boy, we haven't explained in full our proposition to you, just listen!" Hedvig tried to calm down Hiccup and was pleased to hear nothing further from the teen Viking.

"The entire archipelago has their own ideas about us son, about our dragons. They see us as a threat, and we need more man power if we are going to fend off any ill-willed enemies." Stoick began to explain, "We have dragons, son. Creatures that are feared throughout the archipelago, we have them as pets! Imagine the fear that the other tribes are feeling."

"But for the past year you've been renewing treaties and working out compromises. How can there still be a threat if you've already made peace with enough tribes to show that there is no real danger in us having dragons? Also, how is a "matrimonial arrangement" supposed to remedy that? Wouldn't teaming up with one of the strongest tribes in the archipelago just give them more of a reason to fear us?"

The rest of the Vikings at the table stare at both Stoick and Hiccup as they argue, their voices both getting louder as they progress into the exchange of opinions. The rest of the Great Hall even seems to take notice and settle down to pay attention to their chief and his son.

"Hiccup, it isn't as simple as that. There are more threats out there than you know, and we can't ensure the Gunnsons full trust unless we join you and Heidi in-."

"Really? After days of meetings and counsels, this was really the only way for peace that you saw? And I'm still waiting to hear how this accommodates me by the way!" Hiccup questioned exasperated. He knew that there had to be something else that could be done for peace. This wasn't the only way.

"Well you get to keep handling the dragons like you do now, only over a greater reach of land for one." Stoick pointed out putting out a finger as if he had some long list.

"And you get to marry my beloved daughter, the most beautiful woman in the archipelago no doubt." Hedvig seemed to have a list of his own, but Hiccup ignored that statement, not seeing how that played as a benefit for him.

"Hiccup, I don't think you understand our position now that we have dragons." Stoick waved his hands down at Hiccup as if he was waving away a child.

"And I don't think you understand how irrational and unnecessary this 'proposition' is! We've had dragons for over a year now, and I've never heard talk of this 'growing threat' before!" Hiccup exclaimed. This wasn't making any sense!

"Hiccup!" Stoick's voice rose above his now, "There is too much that you don't understand to have a real opinion in this matter, your acting like a child, work with me here!"

"There is too much that I don't understand to have an opinion in my own marriage?" Hiccup questioned as he finally reached his breaking point. He'd had enough, of his dad, Hedvig, and this whole chief nonsense!

He pushed himself out of his seat abruptly and forcefully pushed off his father's arm that tried to restrain him. "I guess neither of us will ever change then." His father would never change to accept and listen to his son and Hiccup would never be the son that Stoick so badly wanted. Even after all that happened, even after nearly losing his only son once before at his lack of understanding, Stoick would never understand. And Hiccup accepted that. But he would not accept being miserable for the rest of his life stuck with Hedvig's, demon child as a wife.

"I'm not agreeing to this arrangement not only because that girl over there" Hiccup pointed to Heidi who sat at the table with the other teen Vikings who stared at the scene wide-eyed. "Is Loki's spawn, but also because this" He gestured to Hedvig and the table that they were sit at, "Is pointless. I have greater 'threats' to deal with, I don't want to play 'your perfect little chief' anymore." With that Hiccup stormed out of the Great Hall, the swinging of the heavy wooden doors being the only sound to break the deafening silence in the usually noisy room. All of the tribe's people Hooligan and Gunnson alike were stunned and silent in awe and confusion as to what had just transpired.

The next sound to be heard was Heidi suddenly bursting into tears and wailing loudly as she ran out of the Great Hall not too long after Hiccup had.

After a few more moments of surreal and borderline-ominous silence, everyone in the great hall slowly returned to their respective conversations and activities, but now including gossip and hypothesized explanations to the sudden turn of events.

Hiccup was absolutely done with his father. He wanted nothing more to do with him, because at this point it was totally clear that he would never change. He had stormed out of the Great Hall, and once the refreshing breeze of the night air blew over his body and snapped him out of his brief heated rage, He realized he had not known where he was going. He knew at that point he just wanted to get away from his father and the eyes of everyone in the Great Hall, but now that he was he didn't know where to go.

Toothless, he thought. He needed to find him, he wanted to be with him. He was beginning to think of where he should look first, but his thoughts where interrupted when he heard the fast approaching sobs of Heidi coming from behind. He turned quickly and was met with Heidi forcefully pushing past him.

She had apparently been running blind as her hands covered her face as she sobbed and she ran right into Hiccup.

"Heidi?" He looked at her as she turned to face him.

Her face was revealed to him when she peered up at him from behind her hands. Her face was red and tears were spilling out of her eyes profusely. Real tears. This confused Hiccup as he had never seen real tears from her before.

What was she crying for? Hiccup thought, when did she _really_ have anything to cry about? It aggravated him. Now that he didn't care about what his dad thought of him anymore, he had no reason to wait on the brat anymore.

"Heidi, what do you want?" He asked coldly.

She said nothing as she peered up at him, with a pathetic look of helplessness and even… hurt?

He waited for her to respond then shook his head, "Look, I don't care what your father will do, so don't expect me to do anything for you anymore."

She said nothing, sniffled and then proceeded to scamper away up the hill to the lodgings her loud wails following behind her.

Hiccup, though confused didn't feel like thinking much of it. Whatever she was crying for she probably deserved it, and besides, he had more important things to worry about.

He'd already resolved that his father wasn't going to accept him for the way he was, and concluded that the only thing left to do was protect his tribe the way he knew how. With his resolve in mind he made his way to the arena, the place he thought Toothless might be. He could really use a night flight right now, and knew that toothless wouldn't object.

Just before he arrived at the arena Toothless had already sensed he was near and came bounding out to greet him. Instantly the dragon noticed his rider's somber mood and nudged at him in efforts to lift his spirits.

"Hey bud, how about a relaxing night flight?" Hiccup offered rather enthusiastically as he scratched the under of the dragons jaw. Toothless cooed and then hopped around playfully in response before lowering his back so that Hiccup could hoist himself up.

They took off swiftly into the night, both Hiccup and Toothless resigning to just simply enjoying the flight rather than worrying about the village. Hiccup had made up his mind on what he was to do and was not going to waste any more time bending over backwards to please his father. If a war was what he would find when he returned, then so be it. To be quite frank, he would take war over marriage to Heidi any day.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

It was deep into the night when Hiccup had returned, technically morning, but still pitch black outside and everyone fast asleep. He was actually feeling exhausted himself, having flown for hours with Toothless. The Dragon was tired as well, moving slower than usual, but still happy for the unexpected flight with his best friend. They were both ready to collapse onto their beds and get some sleep before sunrise.

The village was eerily quiet, as it usually was around this time of night, and only a few torches were lit, so it was hard for the Viking and his dragon to see. They nearly screamed when a sharp voice called out to them a short distance from Hiccup's door. Toothless woke up from his half-asleep state and took on a defensive position in front of his rider, who also braced himself for attack. But after a moment the two realized it was only Astrid and Stormfly.

Oddly Astrid and Stormfly.

"Astrid?" Hiccup questioned as he and Toothless became relaxed to see their two friends.

"Yeah, it's about time you showed up." She grumbled as she walked nearer to them and stretched her arms, "Where were you?"

Hiccup and Toothless looked to each other and then back to her, "We went flying."

"It's past midnight." She sated a hand on her hip.

"Wait, why are you here?" He took on a more concerned tone at the realization, "Have you been waiting all this time?" He suddenly noticed how cold it was outside and how creepy the village looked at night, and a feeling of guilt grew in his stomach, "For me?"

"Maybe," Astrid stretched again and then placed an arm on Stormfly.

"Oh, Astrid, I'm sor-" Hiccup began but she cut him off.

"Don't worry about it, I have something important to tell you." She put on a serious tone, as she made her way to Stormfly's back.

Hiccup blinked, what could be so important that she couldn't wait until morning to say?

"Come on." Astrid commanded before taking off towards the arena. Hiccup hopped onto Toothless and followed her, questions streaming through his head rapidly. As they neared the Arena the acute feeling of uneasiness he felt when he found the whispering death tunnel had returned and grew ominously.

They finally reached the arena after a few minutes of flight and dismounted their dragons swiftly. Hiccup watched as Astrid walked towards the room that Hiccup and Fishlegs had been in earlier today, trying to decipher the pieces of paper they had found in the cave. He noticed how a torch was lit in the room and mats were placed on the floor along with the torn pieces of paper. Astrid had been trying to make out what the papers meant as well, and she seemed to have found something out as she knelt on the floor once they got to the room and pointed to one of them.

"Look."

Hiccup looked at her then knelt down beside her to examine the papers that had frustrated him and Fishlegs earlier. He looked to where she had been pointing and saw what looked to be an almost unrecognizable symbol on the edge of the small piece of paper. It was almost invisible and it looked to be cut off by the torn edge of the paper. Hiccup recognized this piece of paper as He and Fishlegs had disregarded it earlier. It was small and didn't have any significant writing or drawing on it.

"This is just a scrap, maybe we can see the whole symbol if we piece it with some of the other papers." Hiccup proposed as his interest was piqued, this was something he hadn't had noticed earlier.

"I tried that." Astrid stated as she gestured to the multiple pieces of paper that were strewn across the ground.

Hiccup gave her a confused look, "Do you think we left any papers back at the cave, I thought we got them all."

"No, that's not the point." She placed the piece of paper and another bigger one beside each other, "Look, they're two different types of paper."

Hiccup squinted as he examined the two pieces and found that indeed they weren't the same, slightly different in color and texture. He wondered why he hadn't had seen this before, and then looked to Astrid in amazement. He knew she had killer observation skills but nothing as fine-tuned as this.

"So what do you think?" He asked knowing she had a final point to come to.

In response she took the small piece of paper and held it in one hand as she pulled out a very familiar book from the corner of the room. The Book of Dragons.

Hiccups brow furrowed as she opened to one of the random pages and placed the paper next to it.

His eyes widened in realization.

"Whoever was in that cave, is on this island, and they were close enough to know where the Book of Dragons was and when it would be vulnerable." Astrid concluded with a worried look.

Hiccup was baffled and the uneasy feeling he had been feeling instantly switched to one of fright. All this time he had the hunch that the secret person tunneling under Berk had been an outsider, an outcast even. Nothing indicated to him that the enemy could be so close, one of his own. A Berkian.

"No Way." Hiccup simply mumbled in disbelief.

"Yes Way." Astrid nodded then continued flipping through the pages of the book.

"This page is missing." Astrid pointed to the page in the book, or rather lack thereof. The only thing left in place of the stolen page was the edge that connected it to the book, "I think that this is a piece of the page that's missing, and if we can find who has the rest of the page we can find who this mystery person is and what they're doing."

Hiccup nodded in agreement the reality and proximity of the issue still sinking in, "You're right."

After a few moments of tension filled silence, Astrid noticed the look of worry and fear on his face and closed the book, placing it aside, "We have the Blue prints here, so…. If we can find out what they are building we may have the upper hand." She proposed with an empathetic tone, encouraging Hiccup to get into his problem-solving mode already.

He looked up to meet her eyes then looked back at the blueprints nodding, "Yeah."

They both proceeded to piece together the pieces of paper that were scattered across the room as much as they could and concluded that the device in which they were trying to build was intended for offense. That was the scary part.

Why would they need an offensive device that involves the Book of Dragons? Hiccup thought. Were they planning on targeting the dragons? Hiccup glanced at his best friend who sat outside the room in front of the door snoozing along with Stormfly and then back to the papers. He wasn't going to let that happen.

"We need to keep this a secret" Hiccup stated as he leaned against the wall, "At least until we can find out who we can trust."

"Yeah," Astrid agreed as she leaned onto the wall beside him, "If the enemy finds out we're onto them we'll never have the upper hand, we need to devise a plan."

"What if they already know?" Hiccup thought out loud and then met eyes with Astrid.

They both shared a nervous look.

"Tomorrow we start day one of plan incognito." Hiccup stated with a surprisingly humorous tone, "We tell the gang and single out the prime suspects."

Astrid laughed lightly, "Well maybe not the twins, they don't know how to keep secrets."

Hiccup laughed as well, "Yeah and maybe we can spare Snotlout the details as well."

"Agreed" Astrid nodded with a smile on her face as she looked down at her fingers.

There was a comfortable silence between the two as they finally felt a bit of safety. They had the beginnings of a full proof plan. They just needed a bit of sleep before they could expand on it.

The two had to admit they were pooped. They seriously needed some sleep, but neither wanted to leave the other's side. They felt comfortable right where they were, and didn't want to have to go their separate ways just yet.

"Hey, Hiccup?" Astrid broke their silence with a quiet voice.

"Mhm?" He turned his head slightly in response.

"What happened in the Great Hall today?"

Hiccup turned his face in front of him again and swallowed, he had completely forgotten all about that altercation with his father in front of the entire village at the Great Hall. He didn't want to think about it again.

After a long moment of now tension-filled silence Astrid spoke, "You don't… _have_ to tell me." Sounding rather disappointed. She _had_ wanted to know, it was on her mind all night, but she realized that Hiccup's issue with his father had only grown more and more sensitive and she didn't feel it was her place to pry anymore. She didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable, and with what they had just discovered, she would rather him be focused on plan "incognito."

Hiccup though, was quite surprised to hear her say that. She had always urged him to tell her everything, even when he was adamant about it, he usually felt better in the end. He really didn't want to discuss it, but he decided to at least tell her a fraction of it to ease her mind.

"Well," He began with an enthusiastic tone, "We might have a war on our hands…"

"What? What happened?" Astrid was hooked now, as she turned her body towards him in anticipation, "With the Gunnsons? What did you do?"

Her question stung a bit. _What did you do?_

"My Father and I, we had some disagreements about what was best for the tribe." He laughed dryly, trying to make himself sound as casual as possible even though his emotions were stirring, "What's new, right?"

"Hiccup…" Astrid dragged out empathetically, "What happened?"

He looked at her and saw the look of worry in her eyes. He didn't want to lie, but he didn't know how she was going to react to her knowing that Hiccup was to be married to Heidi.

Well, Hiccup thought, she wouldn't be very upset if she didn't care right? Which gave Hiccup the idea to tell her just to see if she really cared for him or not. If she got super angry, then she might actually have feelings for him, and the uneasiness he feels about their relationship would disappear, but if she didn't then what would he do? How would he feel?

He shook his head, how could he do something like that to her? How could her getting angry have anything to do with how she felt about him anyway? It could just be her getting angry because she really hated Heidi, not because she really cared for him.

He fought with himself like this for a minute or so, as he stared into the piercing blue of her eyes. And came to a conclusion that he just couldn't lie to her, not because he wanted to manipulate her but because he had no desire to be anything else than honest with her. He always felt better being honest with Astrid.

"Astrid." He began, but then his words got caught in his throat. He swallowed then proceeded, "My dad, and Hedvig, they want me to-."

He was looking at her and it was getting harder and harder to get his words out.

"What?" Astrid prodded expectantly, her brows furrowing as she stared into his eyes as well.

"They wanted me to get engaged with Heidi, to uh… to join the tribes." He said quietly, but then got louder as he tried to elaborate, "He thinks that we would have greater protection that way, heh, as if we already don't have dragons right? Anyways he says there are threats out in the archipelago that I don't know about and I'm sure there are, but that doesn't mean that we have to resort to-"

Her eerie silence caught him off guard, as well as the wideness of her eyes, but then after a few moments of listening to him she looked away from him slowly to the ground. Silent still.

"Astrid?" He questioned a bit worried, what was she thinking right now? He didn't know what emotion to place in her eyes.

After a long moment of silence she finally spoke, her voice coming out sounding so quiet and vulnerable that he wasn't sure it was Astrid speaking. Astrid very rarely ever sounded unsure, and she absolutely never sounded vulnerable so Hiccup was completely stunned, almost frightened.

"Do you… want to?"

In Astrid's mind she didn't know what to think. She had never thought about the possibility of Hiccup getting married before. Of course the idea of him marrying Heidi made her furious, but then came another possibility. What if the reason she was upset was because Hiccup was supposed to be marrying someone else. Did she care? Of course she cared, but did that imply that she wanted to marry him? She fled from the thought because she didn't want to even think about marriage any time soon. Of course at her age, Marriage was normal, but for someone like her? A born Warrior? She liked Hiccup maybe even loved him, as she could never imagine anything happening to him. But was that love? How was she even supposed to know what love really is?

These questions and millions more ran through her mind as she uttered those four words, and she realized after she spoke them out she had practically laid her feelings out for the world to see. If Hiccup could tell anything from her voice it was that she _did_ care about him being married to someone else, Heidi or not. And even though she didn't want to show him, or anyone for that matter how she felt in that regard, she just had to know if it was something that he wanted. He had always taken what Heidi threw at him, and she was actually very beautiful. Was Hiccup the type of person to go after someone because they were pretty? Is that why Hiccup was always so submissive towards her?

"No!" Hiccup almost yelled as he put his hand out towards her, but then retracted them when he realized what he was doing, "No, no not at all."

He even began laughing, "Heidi?! Her of all people!?" He threw his hand out in front of him, "She's the _last_ person I'd marry, I mean, I'd rather marry into any other tribe proposing marriage in this entire archipelago, I don't think anyone can be as exhausting as her!"

He saw the look in her eyes only deepen. He had obviously said the wrong thing. There were plenty of other suitors in the archipelago and he didn't want Astrid thinking he would marry just any girl he didn't know. His point was that he didn't even want to marry, but his reason in saying so was just to clarify that he would never in a million years marry someone like Heidi.

"Well not anyone in the archipelago, I mean, I would rather marry Ruffnut, you know?" He laughed again, "Not that marrying her would offer any benefit to the tribe militarily." At least, Hiccup thought with an example like Ruffnut, who it wouldn't even make any sense to Marry, Astrid would understand that he had never even thought of marriage before. But now she looked absolutely mortified.

"Ruffnut?" She murmured with a tone of shock and despair. She might be hearing wrong because she could not believe Hiccup of all people was saying this. So Hiccup was ready for marriage? Not just to Heidi, but to anyone in the archipelago? He even went so far as to saying he would rather marry Ruffnut? He was really confusing her, because up until now she assumed Hiccup and her were on the same page. She didn't know Hiccup would actually want to marry right now.

"Hiccup, I don't understand-" Astrid began but Hiccup already had a plan to clarify _everything._

"What I really mean-" Hiccup took hold of both of her hands endearingly and spoke genuinely, "I would rather marry _you_."

Astrid's breath caught as his statement caught her by surprise, as if she wasn't already stunned form what he had been babbling about for the past five minutes.

"I-I mean, I haven't ever really thought of marriage before, and I don't think I want to right now. But to be completely honest, I can't see myself with anyone else but you Astrid."

Hiccup saw that she was quiet, and then continued to explain, "My father wants me to marry Heidi, but I declined. Even with a war at stake, I have no regrets because I'd rather be with _you_."

To Hiccup's surprise, Astrid leaned in slowly and kissed him tenderly, pulling away after a few moments, "That was really smooth haddock."

He smiled as he relaxed in relief, the air between them being cleared finally.

"I didn't think that marriage was the issue because after you stormed out of the great hall Hedvig looked totally calm. So He was either so angry that he couldn't even move, or we really don't have to expect a declaration of war." Astrid continued as she began to play with his fingers idly.

Hiccup gave a confused look, "really? I really hope it's the latter." He then looked up to meet Astrid eyes, realizing how tired she looked. If she was any indication then he must look even worse. How late was it?

She yawned as if on cue and then rested her head on his shoulder lightly, shifting her weight to make herself more comfortable. "Tomorrow, we will definitely sort things out, and we don't have to tell your dad about the blueprints unless you want to." Astrid resolved with an understanding voice.

Hiccup nodded, unusually feeling no qualms at the mention of his father. He felt safe and as if everything would be alright in this moment, and left tomorrow's problems in the future.

He was beginning to doze off himself until Astrid spoke again softly.

"Hiccup?"

"Mhm?" He responded drowsily.

"I think that… I can't see myself with anyone else other than you too Hiccup." She said unsure at first but then finished strong. It took a lot for Astrid to lay out her feelings for anyone, even Hiccup to see. But with how peaceful she was feeling, she couldn't think of any better moment.

"Astrid?" Hiccup asked timidly after a moment or two.

"Yeah?"

"Can I…? kiss you?"

She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him with a small smile, he was blushing and she could tell that it took a lot for him to ask that and nodded in response.

Slowly Hiccup brought her face closer with his hand and met her with his face halfway. Their eyes closed in unison as their lips met. It was soft and sweet, and perfect and neither of them wanted to stop. It was a kind of warmth that radiated from the point of contact, and spread throughout their entire bodies.

They parted slowly, looking at each other's eyes and Hiccup's hand still on her cheek gently. They came together again, Astrid closing the distance between them, and this time the kiss was much more involved. Her hands kept her balanced as she leaned over to meet is face and Hiccup's had wandered to her upper arms. It was slow and gentle, like they were both coaxing each other into a pleasant sleep, but As Astrid leaned further in, and Hiccup leaned further back onto the mats on the floor, the both of them took up a more suggestive position. Astrid, on top of Hiccup, deepened the kiss as his hands traveled to her waist. He pulled her closer and responded to her every advance, his mind clouded with pleasure. Neither of them knew what exactly they were doing, and were merely experimenting with each other, but it felt so right to the both of them that the pesky voice that always popped up in the midst of these types of things and told them to stop was somewhere far away.

Hiccup let his fingers explore the terrain of her body; the gentle dip of her waist her strong shoulders and sculpted arms, the small of her back, and reveled in its perfection. He'd only dreamed of touching Astrid like this, and here it was becoming a reality. The whole experience was surreal for Astrid as well, as she didn't take Hiccup for the bold type. He wasn't the bold type. But technically it had been _him_ who initiated this whole thing. She didn't know how it felt to be touched by another person like this, and Hiccup was doing it so gently, with an undertone of reverence in each stroke. She felt so special, as this action was exclusive between her and Hiccup.

Before the moment could get any more heated the pesky voice popped into Hiccups head first.

He stopped kissing her suddenly and released the protective hold he had had on her waist.

"A-Astrid." He said breathlessly.

She pulled away and looked down at him, her face flushed and her lips red and swollen. He almost started kissing her again when he saw the look of pleasure in her eyes and the way that she was breathless as well.

"What?" She questioned, a hint of disappointment in her voice, but a smile still on her face.

He smiled back at her, suddenly embarrassed about their position, "What are we doing right now?" He asked within a laugh.

Astrid, sighed and then fell on her side next to him. She rested her head on her hand and looked at him with a pout. "What do you think?"

"You're mad?" He questioned with a smile as he turned to his side to face her.

She smiled and shook her head, "no, I get it."

With that she laid her head down on the mat and scooted closer to him, resting her head in-between his neck and shoulder.

"You know we can't sleep here right?" Hiccup stated lazily as he felt his eyes close and draped his arm around Astrid.

"Yeah I know." She replied just as lazily, as she might have been half-asleep by then. Despite their words they dozed off into a well needed rest. Both of them cuddled together close on the mats in perfect contentment.


	11. Chapter 11

**A lot has happened in my life recently and I find myself having less time for certain things more and more often. Though this is the way of life, I want to continue and finish this story for those of you who favorite and follow. I will try to post good quality and lengthy chapters as often as I can, because I know what it feels like to be invested in something and have it ended short. I really don't want to let you guys down, so please be patient with me, and as always leave reviews because those motivate me the most! Even if it is just a short phrase, critique or anything else, feedback is always appreciated! Thank you and Enjoy the coming chapters!**

**Chapter Eleven**

The sound of morning birds as well as voices in the distance awoke both Astrid and Hiccup abruptly. They found themselves tied up with each other on the mats in a room in the arena, just as they had left themselves the night before, and struggled to untangle themselves before the voices that they heard approaching arrived.

"Didn't we agree that we weren't going to fall asleep here!" Hiccup panicked as he straightened himself up and scrambled away from Astrid.

"Well you probably fell asleep before I did, hypocrite!" She dusted off her skirt and brushed her bangs behind her ears hurriedly.

They were both hoping whoever came wasn't observant enough to notice that they'd slept here, and tried to make it look as if they were deciphering the papers since last night.

As the voice neared, the two realized that it was Fishlegs. He was always up early in the morning, and first at the academy. He must've been talking to Meatlug, Hiccup inferred, when he heard the phrase, "This morning isn't as nearly beautiful as you,"

He stopped and froze when he noticed Toothless laying on the ground snoozing, at that point Hiccup felt it was a good time to reveal himself.

"Mornin' Legs!" Hiccup greeted the chubby Viking enthusiastically.

"…Morning Hiccup, I'm surprised to see you here so early, you're usually out flying with toothless at this time right?" Fishlegs did sound surprised at first but didn't think much of it when he continued talking.

"Yeah," Hiccup scratched the back of his head, "But I just couldn't today because we found out some crazy stuff about the blueprints and I wanted to tell you as soon as possible."

"You and Toothless?" Fishlegs questioned.

"No, Me and Astrid! She's uh…. Inside, looking at the papers some more." Hiccup choked out nervously then turned and walked through the open doorway of the room.

The two Viking boys met Astrid who was inside "re-examining" the papers.

"Hey Fishlegs!" Astrid greeted him nervously, "Did Hiccup tell you about what we found?!"

Fishlegs' brow furrowed as he looked between them, "…No, He was just about to…"

"Oh! Well look!" Astrid urged him over to the pile of papers on the ground.

Hiccup and Astrid then relayed to Fishlegs the details of their discoveries, and were met by multiple 'gasps' throughout their explanation. Thankfully, to Hiccup and Astrid's knowledge Fishlegs didn't seem suspicious about what else they could have been doing together besides deciphering papers.

"So the enemy is in our very midst's…" Fishlegs asked, mostly to himself with a worried tone.

Astrid and Hiccup both nodded silently a bit surprised at Fishlegs calm composure to all this news.

"W-wha-what are we going to do!" And the floodgates opened, "We need to-to track them down, but we can't let them know that! What if- OH GODS, What if they already know! What if they're hiding in wait, laughing at us! We need to do something now! We need to tell the chief!" Fishlegs panicked.

"Woah, whoa, whoa, calm down Fishlegs!" Astrid tried to sedate him by putting a hand on his arm and using her most soothing voice, "Get yourself together."

"Yeah, legs, were gonna work this out, but telling the chief will only slow us down, not to mention raise the chances of jeopardizing plan incognito." Hiccup reasoned with the large teen.

"W-what?" Legs asked in bewilderment, "Incognito? You mean were NOT telling the chief!? That's madness!"

"It's madness to widen the circle of people who already know that there is a perpetrator amongst us." Hiccup started.

"We don't know who it is and if you know Stoick you know he won't be sneaky about it." Astrid added.

Fishlegs seemed to have calmed down considerably and settled for just gazing down at the ground in thought.

"So we've decided that were going to try and produce some suspects, as well as not let the word get out." Hiccup concluded.

Fishlegs nodded in submission but then an idea popped into his head, "Do we have any suspects already?"

Astrid and Hiccup exchanged a look and then frowned at Fishlegs.

"Well, not really…" Hiccup started.

"It's hard to say when we haven't seen any movement on our outcast patrols." Astrid said with an uneasy look, "But I still think that we can't rule out outsiders completely."

"You're right, it could be an outsider or someone amongst us we just need to-" Hiccup started.

"Take a closer look…" Fishlegs finished as he eyed them both with squinted eyes.

"Legs, it can't be us…" Hiccup said flatly after a few minutes of his suspicious gaze.

He sighed, "Yeah I know…I just don't know where we should look first!" Fishlegs admitted with an exasperated motion of his hands.

"Well we have no choice so let's just take this-" Hiccup tried to reassure Fishlegs.

"One step at a time." Astrid finished while giving Hiccup a gentle smile. She knew he was freaking out about this just as much as Fishlegs, but it was simply internalized.

After swearing complete confidence on the matter, and dividing roles amongst the three of them, Hiccup, Astrid, and Fishlegs went their separate ways.

Astrid was to subtly ask around the village and take note of any "suspicious behavior", Fishlegs was supposed to find out what page had to be missing from the book of dragons and try to figure out what kind of contraption the unknown "perpetrator" was constructing, and Hiccup tasked himself to re-inspect the cave and gather as much evidence as he possibly could. The trio agreed to meet back up in the arena at noon to swap information and hash out prime suspects that they were going to lock-in on secretly and finally; plan "incognito" was put into motion.

After hours of scouring the empty muddied cave in the forest with Toothless, Hiccup decided to call it quits. The only information he could rely on to figure out who the enemy was exactly, was the entrance and exit to the cave. The tunnel led straight to the docks, so that means the stranger was transporting materials that they brought from outside of Berk. But even then, plenty of Berkians themselves use ships to trade and conduct business through the docks. So that leaves Hiccup at square one. He tried to figure out what he was going to tell Fishlegs and Astrid when they met up at noon, and hoped to the Gods that they had gathered more information than he did. At this rate, Hiccup figured, the stranger's plans could already be in motion.

He sighed as he sauntered into the empty arena with Toothless at his side, seemingly pooped, from all that searching in the tunnels. It was almost noon, so Hiccup found it odd that none of the other teen Vikings had been here. Noon was the general "break-time" around the village, so on any other day the gang could be found lounging around the arena around this time; but oddly enough no one was there.

"Hm," Hiccup made a small sound with mild surprise but didn't think much on it afterwards. He was probably just being overly-perceptive and reading into things he probably shouldn't be reading into.

Continuing to make his way further into the arena he had noticed some shuffling sounds in the room where Astrid, Fishlegs, and He had congregated earlier this morning. He peeked over the doorframe, expecting to see either of the two Vikings, but was shocked to find Heidi standing there looking down at the papers.

Hiccup exchanged a confused and slightly suspicious look with toothless before stepping into the room fully and trying to look as intimidating as possible.

"Heidi." Hiccup said with an even voice.

"Ah!" She shrieked as she threw the pieces of paper she was holding into the air in excitement. "H-Hi-Hiccup!, Wh-"

"What am I doing in my own arena? Just the usual. The real question is what are _you_ doing here." He asked as he bent down to gather the scattered pieces of paper.

She went silent and let her eyes fall to the ground, shuffling her feet nervously.

"Well?" He asked again after a few moments of silence.

"What were you trying to find?" Hiccup questioned as a thought popped into his head. He could have his prime suspect right here in front of him, her knees knocking like they never had before. She was scared, and looked guilty; something Hiccup could not overlook when it came to someone as stubborn and outspoken as Heidi. She and her father must be up to something, and he wasn't about to let her go without at least interrogating her first.

"I was looking for you…" She mumbled with a small voice, so unlike her.

Hiccup raised one brow noting the vulnerability in her voice, this was not the Heidi he knew at all. Ever since she came onto this island he's been trying to figure her out, and she's acted weird before, but nothing like this.

"Well you've found me." He asked in an obviously disbelieving tone. "What did you want?" He finished coldly.

"Don't talk to me like that Hiccup." She said defensively but without the usual fire in her voice. She look like she half meant it and half regretted it.

"Or what?" Hiccup took a step closer and Toothless followed unsheathing his teeth to help Hiccup make his statement.

"You're gonna run and tell your father?" Hiccup continued, " Well go ahead; like I said, I don't care about your threats anymore."

She took a step back with a hurt look in her eyes that were as wide as plates, she had never seen sweet, little Hiccup act like this before.

"What were you really up to Heidi?" Hiccup asked pointedly.

"What are you talking about? I was just looking for" She tried.

"For secrets? Did you find what you were looking for?" Hiccup raised his voice as he came closer.

She cowered into herself a fraction at Hiccup's abrasive tone and Toothless' borderline vicious glare.

"I – I just…" She tried to speak, but her face became hot and she found tears pooling in her eyes.

Hiccup seemed to be surprised a bit at this, and a twinge of guilt tugged at his heart, him not being the type of guy to make a girl cry on purpose. He figured she'd be stronger than that, but as it turns out Heidi was all bark no bite. Despite all the unpleasant memories his mind was resurfacing to encourage him to continue intimidating her, he backed off slowly and looked away. This kind of attitude didn't feel like the right thing to do, and as he glanced at her in her frightened state, he guessed that she wouldn't be spilling any information if he approached her like this.

He sighed and raked his fingers through his hair. Toothless noticed Hiccups exasperation and decided to follow suit, backing away from the girl but making sure to keep his hard glare glued to her all the while.

"Listen Heidi, I don't want us to be enemies, but you haven't really made it easier for us to be friends either." Hiccup tried with an annoyed tone, "Last time I checked you didn't want anything to do with me or anyone on Berk, so I'm just wondering what you were doing snooping around the Academy while no one's around"

"I wanted to apologize." Heidi mumbled, bringing her hands to her front and playing with the furs on her gloves.

Hiccup stared at her with a calculating gaze and a long and tension-filled silence settled in the room.

"I wanted…" Heidi broke the silence first, continuing what she had began with, "To apologize for what I've done… and all the trouble I've caused you."

Hiccup was dumbfounded.

"I know I may not be the most pleasant person, despite what my outwardly appearance may suggest…" she slowly neared him, her face downcast and her thin arms still folded over the front of her furs in what seemed like submission.

He just continued to stare.

"And I know what people say about me. I want to change, I really do but… it's just It's not easy for me to fit in..." She shot her gaze up to meet his eyes, "You know what that feels like right Hiccup?"

"Heidi.. I don't think-" Hiccup decided it was time to interject but Heidi continued.

"I know you don't believe me Hiccup," She suddenly took hold of his hand, " and you don't have to… but I just want you to know that I've-"

She was silenced by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

Hiccup and Heidi whipped their attention to the entrance of the room to find Astrid standing there, arms crossed over her chest, and a nervous-looking Fishlegs behind her.

"What's going on …?" Astrid questioned with apparent authority. She uncrossed her arms and marched down to the couple snatching Hiccups hand away from Heidi's and poking a finger in the princess' chest, "And What are you doing here?"


	12. Chapter 12

"Astrid," Hiccup stared at her, conflicting emotions of delight by seeing Astrid so openly possessive, and fear at the apparent annoyance on her face swirling within him.

Heidi's somber look fell instantly and her anger flared up as she poked Astrid right back, "Who do you think you are!"

"I'm Astrid Hofferson, now answer my question!" She replied with twice the venom. Astrid's rage was building up and Fishlegs and Hiccup could foresee the explosion at any moment. They needed to diffuse the situation before they had a beheaded princess at their feet.

"She came to apologize!" Hiccup caught hold of Astrid's forearm's gently and she looked at him, a subtle look of ease passing through her angry glare. She shrugged off his hold and folded her arms once more.

"Please elaborate…" She ground out those two words with painfully evident annoyance.

"She wanted to apologize for being such a pain in the-" He looked back to Heidi who had calmed down as well and mirrored Astrid's folded arms and annoyed look, "And uh… I think that maybe… we should listen to what she has to say." Hiccup finished with tight shoulders and an apprehensive look towards Astrid.

She glared at him in response.

He sighed and slumped his shoulders but then felt Fishlegs beside him, "Yeah let's at least hear her out…"

Astrid rolled her eyes and then looked to Heidi, " Alright out with it then…"

The three of them looked back towards the small Viking princess expectantly as she twisted her boot into the ground.

"As I was saying to Hiccup… I'm sorry for being so difficult these past few days. I don't really mean a lot of the things I say about you…" It sounded as if she were spitting the last word out "Berkians… and we don't always come to an understanding but I hope that…" She sighed, "I hope that we can be more… friendly. From now on." Her eyes shone with what looked like sincerity and her voice seemed genuine enough.

They were all in disbelief; the larger than life princess, Heidi the Heavenly Horvath was apologizing to them. The three of them exchanged looks and understood that though she seemed sincere, they needed to take this girl's words with a grain of salt.

Hiccup spoke first after a long lapse of shocking silence, "Ok… Heidi…Um- We accept your apology. I hope that we can be friendlier from now on as well."

"Yeah" Fishlegs added on, "I guess we may have had some… misunderstandings… But I feel like this wiped the slate clean."

Heidi smiled at their responses and then turned to Astrid expectantly.

She eyed her up and down, "You lied about everything and almost started a war. Not to mention you've been openly insulting all of us and our home since you got here…."

Heidi winced at each allegation.

"You're lucky some of us Berkian's are so forgiving…" She bent forward an inch and leveled her eyes with Heidi's for a moment to complete her silent threat, "_some_."

Turning without giving a look to any of the three Vikings she walked out of the room preparing to re-mount Stormfly.

Hiccup looked from her to the other two Vikings then turned his attention to Fishlegs, taking a hold of his shoulder and subtly pulling him to the side.

"Were going to have a meeting tonight, just keep an eye on Heidi for the time being. I'm sure you know why."

Fishlegs nodded and turned back to Heidi, offering her a ride around Berk to show her all his personal favourite landmarks, in honour of her newfound respect for the village of course.

With Heidi, Hiccup was almost 100% positive that he had his prime suspect, no one has acted as inconsistently as her on this island. With a fleeting look towards the two of Viking teens mounting Meatlug, he turned towards the entry way and ran in Astrid's direction, hoping to catch her before she took off.

"Astrid!" He called out and caught hold of the side of Stormfly's saddle, stopping the dragon from making a move.

"Yes Hiccup?" Astrid asked without looking his way.

"Are you… mad?"

"Do I look mad?" Astrid looked down at him with pointed brows and narrow eyes.

"um… is that a trick question?" Hiccup tried for the humorous route and she just sighed and turned forward again.

After a few moments he reached up to her leg and placed a hand on it gently, "Are you upset…?"

"A little…" She admitted as she made a move to dismount.

Hiccup let go of the saddle and offered a hand to help her down, which she took slowly and used to hop down swiftly. Heidi and Fishlegs were already gone, having flew off on Meatlug a few minutes ago, leaving the two teens and their dragons in the arena alone.

When Astrid reached the arena floor she leaned against Stormfly and crossed her arms, her obvious defensive position. And when Hiccup looked at her face he could make out a faint red flush. He leaned on Stormfly beside her and slowly made their shoulders touch side by side. This time she didn't shrug him off and he let out a tiny sigh of relief.

After a few moments Astrid spoke with a low voice, eyes still averted, "I hope you don't seriously believe what that brat said…"

"You think I'm that stupid? I mean I may not be that bright sometimes but Heidi? actually feeling sorry about something? That's impossible." Hiccup replied in a light tone.

Astrid looked up at his eyes with a little bit of weight lifted off her shoulders, then looked back down at the arena floor, " Yeah…" She laughed a little, " You're right… I guess I was just mad that she-" She didn't finish the last part as she looked at her own hand.

Hiccup smiled and the feeling of delight from before emerged as he silently joined their hands.

"Remember what I said last night?" Hiccup asked with a tender voice.

Astrid smiled to herself as she though back to the night before.

_I can't see myself with anyone else but you Astrid._

Astrid's train of thought was interrupted as Hiccup laughed at his own thoughts, "Wow I never thought I'd live to see the day that Astrid Hofferson was _jealous_. Of Heidi the Hellish Horvath no less."

Astrid's smile dropped and she punched him in the stomach, of course lighter than she would've if she was actually trying to injure him, but hard enough to make a statement.

"Ow!" Hiccups hands flew over his stomach and he bent over in slight discomfort but gave out a short chuckle as he stood up straight again, " Hah, I guess I may have deserved that… But you have to admit-"

Astrid held up her hand again, but Hiccup caught it, " It's pretty funny that the most beautiful woman in all of Midgard, the fiercest warrior with the most truest heart could ever be jealous of someone like Heidi…" Hiccup finished smoothly, with the most genuine voice. He really did mean it.

She gave a blushing smile and relaxed her fist, opening it to intertwine her and Hiccup's fingers. She scooted to the side a little bit so that her shoulders pressed more into his and continued to smile to herself. She'd gotten quite a few compliments in her time, most of them combat related, but no one had ever said anything like that to her before. The fact that it came from Hiccup made the warmth inside her flare up even more and sent her heart racing.

She was violently pulled out of her romantic thoughts when Hiccup went straight back to business.

"Speaking of that little monster Heidi, what should we do with her?" Hiccup questioned.

"What?"

"After what I saw earlier I'm almost positive that Heidi is our prime suspect." He clarified.

"Yeah your right," Astrid said in thought, " And that means Hedvig and all of the Glunky Gunnsons are in the spotlight now…"

"We know who, now we just have to figure out what, when, where, how, and why…" Hiccup listed off.

"Yeah, that really narrows it down Hiccup…" Astrid commented with a dry tone.

"Hey, at least we know what we're looking for!" He said in defense.

"Okay, so we focus our attention on the Gunnsons?" She proposed.

"Yeah. Heidi specifically."

"why?" Astrid questioned with a slight look of disgust on her face. Half of the reason was because of her dislike for the Viking princess and the other half because of her rationale. Heidi seemed to be some sort of distraction, not worth the time and concentration because she doesn't have much strength behind her. What could she possibly do?

"Well," Hiccup began with an eager tone, one could tell the wheels in his head were already turning. They always were, "I know what your thinking; tiny girl, Obviously a diversion, but what if she's responsible for more than we give her credit for?"

Astrid raised an eyebrow, "like what…?"

"Earlier when you saw the two of us together-" Hiccup could feel Astrid tense slightly at that, "Nothing happened! Of course- But, what I'm trying to say is… she was already here before I arrived, and looking at the papers too."

"Well that changes things…"

"Yeah, and I have a feeling she's been doing more snooping around than that. I think because we know whatever kind of thing is being built Is an offense attack on the dragons we need to come up with an excuse to re-locate the dragons. That way, we can keep them safe, and if an attack were to happen on the island it would keep us safe too." Hiccup explained.

Astrid nodded, "Whatever it is, it needs to be convincing, We can't have whoever is behind all this finding us out and putting us back in the dark."

"True…" Hiccup pushed himself off Stormfly who had been standing there as a make-shift wall with such loyalty all this time, and strode back to the room with all the papers. He looked through some drawers on a desk nearby and rummaged through them a bit before pulling out a wide rectangular folded parchment. By this time Astrid was behind him and clearing the floor for him to set the paper down. He nimbly unfolded it and smoothed it out, and after studying it for a moment, he made some quick markings along one region of what looked to be a map.

"Down here towards Dragon Island, " Hiccup drags the charcoal across the parchment as he lists off the islands he rolls by, "Past Thor Rock, and even Sunstone, and Crescent to… here. Here looks good." He looks up to meet Astrid's eyes, "What do you think about here?"

"As a Refuge, until we figure all this out?" She asked, and Hiccup nodded in confirmation.

"Well," She continued, "what's over there anyways? Why here?"

"Well it's north west of Berk, the exact opposite of Gunge Guck, and there are tons of tiny scattered Islands here to separate the Dragons and decrease the effect of an attack since we're spread out. Plus, it's pretty far out, maybe a days and a half of full speed flight at most, with islands to stop at and rest of course and little chance of successful pursuit on the Gunnson's side of the table."

"Sounds like a good enough location but how are we going to get all the dragons over there without raised suspicions?" Astrid still wondered about that part of Hiccup's plan.

"Yeah that- I have yet to figure out, so I'll go ahead and give us until tomorrow to come up with something."

"Any time wasted is time in their favour…" Astrid stated, mostly to herself.

"Well we can only do so much, I just hope enough isn't too late…" Hiccup agreed, " Were going to have a meeting tonight, maybe we can see what we've come up with at the end of the day."

"Alright, I'll see you later then Hiccup. I have to go help my mom with some stuff." Astrid concluded, she hadn't had done any of her daily tasks all morning and she needed to get them done or she'd be held up well into the evening. Not to mention her mother might not be too happy about it and give her an earful in return for her absence.

"Alright, later then." Hiccup nodded. But neither of them moved.

"Yup." Astrid smiled.

"Later…" Hiccup drawled out and then let out a chuckle at the evident awkwardness. It was painfully obvious that neither of them wanted to part just yet.

Astrid finally made a move to leave and Hiccup looked up to meet her eyes, but without warning she leaned in and placed a quick peck on his cheek.

"See you Hiccup." With that she turned and walked off towards the exit of the room.

"See you Milady…" Was the last parting words Hiccup said before she was out of earshot and off into the air. His hand brushed his cheek a little bit and he smiled to himself. Shaking his head out of his thoughts, he folded up the map and stuffed it into his pocket. He could've placed it back into the drawer but he didn't want to risk Heidi or any other person snooping around and exposing that they had a plan in the works.

Meanwhile, Near the Docks Heidi was trying to stay awake while Fishlegs railed off historical facts about Berk, more specifically The Ingerman's part in Berk History.

"Now Really, a lot gets passed down by word of mouth, so this information about the Ingerman Legacy is only the tip of the iceberg. Sadly we have no written records of the many events the Ingermans played a part of with their Mariner expertise and Intelligent prowess, but I digress-"

"This is the 5th time you've said 'I digress' When will it be over!?" Heidi cut Fishlegs off with an exasperated tone. After moment though she sat up straight again and put her hands in her lap, "Uh… I mean, Why don't we do something else?" She finished with an eerily pleasant tone.

Fishlegs raised a brow and held up his hand to speak, but something pushed him from behind.

"Excuse me! Make way!" Snotlout came out of nowhere and shoved Fishlegs out of the way, taking a knee in front of the seated Viking princess. " I heard the news!"

Heidi jumped back a little in surprise and eyed Snotlout from head to toe, "What are you talking about…?"

"The news!"

"What news!" Fishlegs asked in an irritated tone as he brushed himself off.

"I was walking around the village, and I heard some people saying that an Angel had fallen down to our island, I just had to come see…" Snotlout sat next to Heidi on the railing.

"What are you talking abou-" Fishlegs complained but Snotlout continued.

"I rushed over to the docks as quickly as I could and I wasn't that surprised to find you were what everyone's been talking about," Snotlout snatched up Heidi's free hand and planted a firm kiss on the back of it, "Tell me princess, did they kick you out of Valhalla because you were just making the place…too hot?"

She turned up her nose and pulled her hand away, "That is about the worst pick-up line I've ever heard in my entire life…" She said with a sour taste in her mouth but then stopped and petted one of the braids that slung over her shoulder, "And trust me I've heard a lot."

"I'm sure you have princess, but no Vikings passion is as fiery as a Jorgenson's, " He winked as he leaned in closer.

"Eugh.." Heidi scrunched up her face in disgust and looked as if she had just swallowed a baby barf, quite undignified for a Viking princess, but there was no helping the vile intensity of Snotlout's desperation and failed attempts to win her heart. Though, Heidi pondered for a moment, maybe this boy could be of some use to her afterall.

She flipped her braid over her shoulder, practically slapping Fishlegs who still stand behind her in the face and leaned suggestively closer to Snotlout, " You know Snotty, some people may take your strong, almost swine-like body odor as vulgar and distasteful, but I find it makes you seem Brusque and manly."

Snotlout was completely blindsided by that remark and let his schmoozing expression fall into one of complete shock and slight confusion.

She giggled at his slack jaw and pushed his mouth closed gently, "It must be my attraction towards you…" Her eyes widened in feigned shock, "Oops, did I say that out loud?" Her delicate finger rested on her chin as she finished with, "How embarrassing."

After a few moments, Snotlout recovered from his surprise, surmising that the 'Jorgenson Charm' had been working all along, and Heidi had just been concealing her true feelings. Straightening his posture, and puffing out his chest, Snotlout took up a proud position, his supposed success quickly getting to his head, "There's nothing to be embarrassed about my princess, There's no use in fighting attraction."

Heidi let the edge of her lips curl up slightly at her success, if she didn't have him before, he was undoubtedly hooked now. Unbeknownst to Her though, Fishlegs was keeping a close eye and noticed spark of Mischief twinkling in her eye. He had seen that look many times before on the twins, but hers had definite intent behind it rather than the twin's motive for entertainment. Fishlegs did not like where this was going.


End file.
